Business Minister visits Polypipe

he Construction Products Association and Polypipe hosted a visit by the Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP, Minister of State for Business and Energy, to the plastic pipe systems manufacturer’s facilities in Kent.

The visit included a tour of the Aylesford factory and the 14-acre site’s Centre of Excellence training facility.

Polypipe CEO David Hall explained how the business’s technical support function combined with a £100 million investment in equipment across its nine manufacturing sites in recent years have been important factors in the company’s resilience and organic growth.

Fallon said: “Industry figures show the UK construction products sector has an annual turnover of £40 billion, and employs 300,000 people in more than 20,000 companies. It provides materials to build everything from factories and offices to schools and hospitals – essential for both the economy and society at large.

“The Government is working with industry on an industrial strategy for construction that will set out a long term approach to give confidence to business for investment and growth. It also looks at how we can increase exports of construction products, particularly amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).”

Dr Diana Montgomery, Construction Products Association chief executive, said: “Visits like this one allow the Minister to see the tremendous efforts undertaken by our industry around not only innovation and sustainability but also developing export markets. It affords our members a chance to highlight how government support and action on a range of issues affecting their businesses – such as infrastructure investment, energy strategy, availability of finance, and planning and regulations – are key to promoting further success.”