DECREASE IN SIZE OF
CONTRACT FLOORCOVERING MARKET IN 2017
The total contract floorcovering market in Great Britain shrunk by an estimated 1.2% in 2017 to 58.8million square metres in volume. This is the second consecutive year the market has fallen in size, following a larger decrease in 2016. Prior to this, in the period 2013 – 2015, the market saw two successive years of volume growth.
These figures are from the latest edition of the Palmer Contract Flooring Report, published earlier this year. It has been produced on a regular basis since 1979 and is said to be viewed as the main source of data on the GB contract floorcovering market as it takes into account sales data submitted by the leading flooring manufacturers.
PERFORMANCE BY PRODUCT The largest three floorcovering product categories in 2017 were resilient sheet, carpet tile and carpet roll. Together these categories accounted for over 70% of the total GB contract floorcoverings market.
The tendency to replace like-for-like flooring in the contract market limits significant changes in the product mix year to year. The major increases in volume by product since the last report in 2013 have been the growth of luxury vinyl tile and to a lesser extent carpet tile, both modular products.
Since the last report, LVT has taken market share from carpet, carpet tile, resilient sheet, ceramic and wood mainly due to its product and design advantages. Meanwhile carpet roll continues to slowly decline in importance in the overall contract sector. However, it is still strong in the leisure sector especially hotels and casinos, for example.
Resilient sheet has suffered from the decline in construction activity in the health sector, which together with education are its two most important markets. Other floorcoverings covered in the report include seamless resin,
ceramic / terrazzo, wood and laminates.
10 | NEWS
We present findings from the latest Palmer Contract Flooring Report by Leading Edge. Research programme and report structure
The findings in the report are based on the following extensive research programme:
• 630 structured telephone interviews carried out during 2017.
• Manufacturer sales data. • Extensive desk research across a range of publications and reports.
• Reference to historical data on the market held in-house. It is provided in three volumes as follows:
Volume 1: Market size data by product and building sector Volume 2: Manufacturer ratings and decision making data Volume 3: Customer feedback on individual flooring manufacturers.
SECTORS AND ROUTE TO MARKET
The highest growth sectors in the period since the last report in 2013 have been offices and leisure which have both seen good increases in volume and benefitted from an increase in the amount of new-build construction.
However, Mel Budd from Leading Edge, commented: “Although we’ve seen good growth in flooring volume in the office sector in recent years, we forecast this to decline over 2018 and 2019, mainly as a result of decreased construction activity in the London office market.”
The key route to market for contract carpet tiles is direct to the flooring contractor, which has increased in importance since 2013. The other main route, via distributor, has seen a slight fall. This is similar to the resilient flooring market which has also seen a fall in the percentage of the market going through distribution compared to 2013.
PREFERRED SUPPLIERS AND
BRAND RECOGNITION The report looks at preferred suppliers, for both contractors and specifiers, and also brand recognition. Altro was said to be the most preferred resilient supplier for architects although the percentage was significantly down on the last survey with Polyflor gaining ground. The top Three recognised brands in carpet tiles within the specification sector were Forbo, Gradus and Burmatex.
www.lead-edge.co.uk www.tomorrowscontractfloors.com
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