The past few years have been tough on the construction industry. The pandemic is a big factor, as it created a chain reaction of events within this industry. Although the pandemic is no more, there is still a whole load of other trends that still affect the construction industry today. We will be taking a closer look at the 5 main trends affecting the current construction industry.
1. Soaring Inflation
The soaring inflation that has hit the British economy has been disrupting supply chains. There has already been a surge in energy prices due to inflationary pressures, which has done and will lead to a surge in the prices of materials. For any construction companies that are in the energy sector, these prices are set to rise even further.
The second largest steakmaker, British Steel, was one of the companies that had to increase their prices by 25% due to the increase in energy prices. This ended up being one of the highest one-off increases in its history.
2. Shortage of Workers
Back in 2021, the headlines were dominated by news on the shortage of lorry drivers, which came into effect after COVID-19 and Brexit hit the UK, which had a huge impact on supply chains. This shortage has had a huge effect on many industrial sectors, making it one of the most important trends within the construction industry.
In 2021 it was shown that half of the small and medium-sized building contractors, couldn’t find workers to build homes last year. Due to this shortage of bricklayers, have now started to command a daily rate of £220, which has rose since pre-pandemic.
3. High Shipping and Storage Costs
Within the past few years, there has been an increase in shipping and logistic prices, which are still expected to rise. Due to inflation prices on the rise, transportation and distribution providers are planning to hike their contract rates even higher. In 2021 costs for shipping a 40-foot container was 75% higher than in the same period last year. The prices for shipping from all parts of the world are on the increase, some are 10 times higher than pre-pandemic levels.
4. COVID-19
Although the pandemic has ended and all restrictions have been lifted, it still comes as a concern for the construction industry and is still affecting the overall economy. There is still a huge amount of people that still have COVID-19, as it’s something that we’re never going to fully get rid of.
There could always be another surge of cases at any time, depending on what new variants are around. A lot of construction sites will have had to take measures to maintain good hygiene within their workspaces and between all their workers.
5. New Safety Standards
As new bills have been passed through parliament, businesses have had to adapt to the government’s new safety regulations, which has come as one of the biggest changes to building safety regulations in a generation.
The new bill has changed how certain structures will be built, maintained and made safer. This new bill will affect a number of different people such as contractors, developers and any organisations invokced in the construction and design of any buildings that are deemed as higher-risk buildings.
Summary
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