Tag: tool hire in South East London

The continuing shortage of building materials in the UK has increased the pressure on UK construction projects, with timber, steel, paints, and cement all being hard to find.

According to BBC News, the Construction Leadership Council has stated that the lack of certain electrical supplies has been down to ‘unprecedented levels of demand’. The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has reported that building firms have needed to delay projects, and some smaller firms have had to close down.

The price of construction supplies has soared, which has led to the public being advised to delay their home improvement projects until later in the year to help ease the demand for scarce materials.

The Office for National Statistics has estimated a rise of 7-8 per cent in material prices, with prices for timber, expected to more than double during the year.

Several factors have been the cause of the supply issues of materials, as well as high levels of demand. Factories closures during the pandemic caused delays to supply chains, but the weather has also impacted supplies.

A mild winter has impacted timber production in Scandinavia, and the unprecedented cold winter in Texas has affected the supplies of chemicals, plastics, and polymers. There have also been issues with Brexit, as 80 per cent of softwood imports are from the EU.

A shortage of empty shipping containers has increased shipping costs.

David Hopkins, chief executive of the Timber Trade Federation, said“customers may not be able to purchase timber as readily off the shelves as they have been used to”.

He added that sawmills in Europe traditionally ‘enter a period of shut-down for repair, maintenance and holidays in June and July, and this will keep supply tight’.

If you’re looking for tool hire in South East London, talk to us today.

The £9 billion affordable housing programme has been granted a one-year extension by the UK government so that registered housing providers have extra time to deliver housing schemes now that COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are being eased.

The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick has explained that the extension is to make sure that the construction of 53,000 homes that were stalled by the pandemic are no completely lost, according to Property Reporter.

Registered providers (RPs) of affordable housing were required to begin construction on their scheme by March 2022 to qualify, under the £9bn 2016-21 Affordable Homes Programme, but with the extension in place, RPs now have an extra year to start construction without the risk of losing funding.

The confirmation of the one-year extension follows the announcement by the government of the new £12 billion affordable homes programme, that will cover the next five years. According to the government, some of the funding will be used for a 1,500-home pilot of its First Homes scheme, for which new homes would be sold at a 30 per cent discount for first-time buyers.

Mr Jenrick said: “Today I am announcing that we are giving more flexibility to housing associations and councils to help them deliver affordable homes. We’ve listened closely to the sector and agreed that there will now have a longer deadline for using Government funding to get these homes built.”

Housing association bosses last week called on the government to focus on social housing at the heart of its economic recovery plan after publishing evidence of the health effects suffered by people inadequately housed during the lockdown.

If you’re looking for tool hire in South East London for your construction project, then get in touch!