Supply Chain

Willmott Dixon has warned of the erosion of supply chain margins due to materials shortages and COVID-19, as it reveals its own margin more than halved in 2020. According to headline financial results released today, the contractor’s turnover fell slightly to £1.19bn in the year to 31 December 2020, down…

Hanson has restricted its bagged cement supplies due to an “unprecedented” increase in demand and difficulty getting transport. Its UK packed products director Andrew Simpson said that demand for cement had gone up by around 30 per cent across all sectors of the construction market since mid-2020. He called it…

Panellists in a recent Construction News webinar, sponsored by Deltek, assessed how the industry can continue to drive the wave of digital transformation triggered by the trials of the virus crisis

A real-estate investor has unveiled plans for its first retirement-living development as part of a £300m pipeline of projects. FORE Partnership said it will deliver its first “ultra-sustainable” site in Bristol with a development value of up to £80m. In a new joint venture with care operator Amicala, the company…

Industry groups have warned against government plans to slash the UK steel safeguard measures, and called them a “hammer blow” to the sector. The government’s Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate (TRID) recommended on Wednesday that a number of measures to protect the UK steel industry from imports be cut from July.…

Following its launch in 2019, the Common Assessment Standard has quickly become the gold standard for prequalification (PQ) of construction contractors. Now, the rollout of a new data-sharing agreement between different Common Assessment Standard providers means the benefits of the scheme are greater than ever, for those seeking qualification as…

As the UK continues to open up after a year of lockdowns and other restrictions, the construction industry has been at the forefront of the economic recovery with activity levels at a seven-year high. Soaring demand has strained the availability of a number of key materials, with some experiencing double-digit…

There are fears that steel shortages could hit large projects after British Steel stopped taking orders on structural steel sections due to “extreme demand”. The company, which is the only UK manufacturer of structural steel sections, has been hit by the worldwide strain on the supply. A spokesman for the…

Juliette Enser is the senior director of cartels at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Few industries are as crucial to a dynamic UK economy as construction, which is one of the reasons why the CMA has taken strong action to root out rogue cartels from the sector. With infrastructure…

Construction Product Association has forecast 12.9 per cent growth in construction output in 2021, driven by rising activity in the infrastructure and industrial sectors, as well as repair, maintenance and improvement (RM&I) of public housing, including cladding remediation. It also foresaw further growth of 5.2 per cent in activity across…