Construction Products Association (CPA) chief executive Michael Ankers presented a bleak picture of the industry when he addressed The Timber Trade Federation dinner last week, but there were also some positives.
While it may have appeared to the contrary, in 2008 the UK experienced the largest amount of construction activity it had ever seen, he said, but the staggering rate of decline had created a great deal of pain.
“Output in some sectors in the construction products industry fell by over 50% in the second half of last year, and for many sectors a 25% drop was the norm,” Mr Ankers said.
And there is worse to come. A recent CPA survey revealed that, since mid-2007 60,000 jobs have been lost from the construction products industry. Another 9,000 have been announced this year and around 12,000 people are on short-time working.
“As to the future, the CPA’s forecasts point to a fall of 8.5% in output this year, a further 4% next year and a levelling off in 2011 before we return to growth in 2012 and 2013,” said Mr Ankers.
However, the good news was that building would not go out of fashion, and neither would sustainability.
“Sustainability is here to stay,” he said, adding that companies that put it aside in the recession did so at their commercial peril.
The issue would also require more partnership in the supply chain. “If we are going to deliver more sustainable bildings we can’t put any old product in,” he said. “We have to be far more conscious of products so contractors, suppliers and designers are going to have to work more closely together.”
Mr Ankers said the timber industry faced many challenges “and now more than any other time you need a strong trade federation, which you have in the TTF”.
“It punches above its weight on issues and it looks to the future, things that are going to stand your industry in good stead when the good times return,” he said.