Supply Chain

Pimlico Plumbers has stipulated that anyone applying for a job at the company must have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The specialist, which is recruiting for six members of an in-house maintenance team, said all applicants will be asked to provide proof that they have had at least one vaccine dose,…

Travis Perkins’ chief operating officer has appealed to builders to plan ahead if they want to avoid material shortages. In an interview with Construction News in the wake of the firm raising prices on many of its products, COO Frank Elkins asked businesses to give the builders' merchant as much…

New orders increased at the fastest rate ever recorded in the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) covering May. The IHS Markit/CIPS reading for the month found new order volumes increased by their fastest pace since the survey began in 1997. Overall activity was up to 64.2 in May, from 61.6 in…

Structural steel and rebar prices recorded double-digit inflation from March to April as supplies struggled to meet demand. Data released by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) this week showed the price of fabricated structural steel increased by 13.5 per cent. It is the biggest jump since…

Travis Perkins has warned customers that a materials shortage is leading to cost increases. According to reports, which first appeared in the Sunday Times, the company emailed customers last week to tell them that bagged cement prices would increase by 15 per cent; chipboard by 10 per cent; and paint…

The government has rebuffed suggestions that current shortages of construction materials will hit the delivery of major infrastructure projects in the UK. On Wednesday, transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris told the House of Commons that the availability of construction materials was regularly reviewed by HS2 Ltd, Network Rail, and the Department…

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…