COMMENT
Wanted: some kind of upturn
L
ast week I looked at the Construction Products Association’s latest set of forecasts for the sector, and wished I hadn’t. Luckily, the monthly missive from S&P Global, the UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index™ (PMI®) then landed in my inbox. It’s always a jolly read. Except for the months when it isn’t. Guess which sort of month April was? Business activity fell yet again, cost inflation ramped up faster than an Aldi checkout operator with an eye on closing time, and confidence across the sector took another big wobble.
The headline figure dropped to 39.7 in April from 45.6 in March. Anything above 50 is, basically, an increase in activity. Oh. In fact, output has now shrunk every month since January last year, with April the weakest reading in five months. Civil engineering posted a particularly painful 35.3, while housebuilding was firmly under pressure at 38.2. Commercial work fared slightly better at 42.7. Though I reckon “better” is doing some pretty heavy lifting in that sentence.
A common theme was the lack of fresh projects coming through – less demand, fewer tenders and projects taking for ever to get over the line. Whatever is going on in the Middle East is taking its toll. Who would have thought it? How many potential projects have gone back to the calculator stage in order to put off making a final decision is anyone’s guess.
This all means fewer cranes in the sky, fewer boots on building sites and fewer building materials sold. Oh joy.
Staffing levels continued to slide during April, with job shedding reaching its fastest pace in four months. Some firms blamed reduced project starts, others admitted that strong wage
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EDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382
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Assistant Editor Oliver Stanley 01622 699106
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Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
pressures meant anyone who leaves simply isn’t being replaced, so people are just having to do more with less. Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, purchasing activity weakened because who wants to buy too much when they don’t know when or if they’ll use it? That said, I know some merchants who’ve seen customers buying early in order to try and avoid price increases. Given the current state of global shipping, you can hardly blame them. Supplier lead times got worse, again, down largely to shipping disruption and difficulties importing materials. Thanks Donald. Really helpful. And just to add another layer of fun, fuel surcharges sent purchasing prices soaring. Around 69% of firms reported higher input costs in April, compared to 48% in March, while only a tiny 2% saw any reduction at all. That pushed cost inflation to its highest level since June 2022. It’s no longer simply about squeezed margins, but about uncertainty freezing decision-making altogether. The result is a sector under genuine pressure. Again. Construction activity remains stuffed by affordability concerns, planning bottlenecks and lack of confidence, with little sign of a turnaround just yet. Mainstream housing activity, which is the bedrock for so much across this sector, is expected to remain subdued. What the industry needs is a clear downward path for inflation and sustainably lower interest rates. And for the nonsense in the Middle East to stop. Until and unless that happens, those hatches are going to remain firmly battened down. Sigh. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
“ But what we call
our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope
George Eliot ”
CONTENTS 4 Newsround
What’s happening across the building materials sector .
8 News Extra
Highlights from the NMBS Exhibition 2026. 10 Rising Stars
Elliotts’ Millie Blackman shares her industry insight
12 People Who’s moving where
13 Viewpoint
Our guest columnists share their insights 18 Merchant Focus
National Plastics explains its comprehensive offer
20 Company Focus
Global Stone reveals the thinking behind its new brand identity.
22 Bathrooms and Showers The latest from the bathroom industry
26 Kitchens and Bathrooms Exploring home improvement trends for 2026
32 Tools
Inside MILWAUKEE’s world of solutions 34 IT
ADVERTISING
Group Sales Manager: Dawn Tucker 01622 699148 07934 731232
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Media Account Executive Morgan Borthwick-Hunter mborthwick-hunter@datateam.
co.uk
01622 699126
Publisher: Paul Ryder
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.
CIRCULATION
ABC audited average circulation
July 2018-June 2019: 7,801 SUBSCRIPTIONS
UK 1 year: £97 UK, 2 years: £164 Outside UK: one year £113/$204; two years: £196/$353
Keeping up with a changing industry 38 Heavyside
The evolving face of architectural building products
42 Industry Voice What’s new from the BMF
44 Product News
What’s new from building material suppliers 46 And Finally
News from all around, while the Prize Crossword is there to tease your brain
May 2026
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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