Blogs

What goes around comes around. We talk a lot about economics being a cycle, of recessions coming every seven to 10 years and sometimes things happen that drive that thought home. So it is with the news that Forterra (ex Hanson Building Products) is to mothball two of the brick factories it re-opened only a…

In the past two weeks there has been a flurry of activity about housing; kicked off by criticism of Decent Homes and overall Government performance on housing. Labour was given a ticking off for missing its targets and there was a rush to put the boot in.

As merchants who are selling cement and other cement-containing materials, you may have noticed cement bags have a use by date printed on them but might not be aware of its significance. This is in effect a 'shelf life' for cement and has a big impact on stock control both for your suppliers and your…

As construction activity picks up after a (rather too long!) slumber through the recession, the opportunities for skilled construction works are expanding rapidly. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimates that over 180,000 new jobs will be created in the next 5 years, perhaps a greater rate of job creation than in any other sector.

This summer has not been exactly tropical, far from it, but inevitably the temperature will begin to drop over the next weeks and months and we enter the autumn/winter season (how depressing!) It is however, probably time look at what the industry will be needing from its suppliers over the winter months.

Listening to Ed Davey MP speak on the Green Deal at Ecobuild on Tuesday (full speech here) I did agree with his sentiments - it will be a long term transformation.. the industry does have to work together to make it work.

Triumphs of 'process over purpose'! We all recognise them when we hear them; indeed you can probably imagine the look on someone's face as they deliver the line: "I see what you mean and actually I sympathise with what you want to do. Indeed, it is actually core to what the institution I work for…

I recently joined Kevin McCloud and Greg Barker - Minister of State for energy and climate change - for a live webinar in which we were discussing the Green Deal, with the debate fed by questions from you.

Brexit is being blamed for anything and everything at the moment, and whilst there is no doubt that the decision made in the recent referendum will change things, if you listened to, and believed all the talk of doom and gloom, you'd think the world was about to end.

So Treasury officials are looking into the idea of scrapping stamp duty as one of the ways they could kick-start the housing market.