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Darlaston buys into h&b


THE MONTH Construction output slips back in August


Darlaston Builders Merchants in the West Midlands has joined buying group h&b, taking the total membership to 105.


The five-branch family-owned and -run merchant set up 35 years ago with the original founder still serving as MD and two of his sons also on the board. The depots are in Darlaston, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, and Birmingham plus a well-established plumbing outlet also in Darlaston.


The company has ambitious expansion plans with a new depot in Walsall due to open in September this year, and another following hard on its heels in central Birmingham in Q2 2021. “With the growth we have seen in recent years we decided that the next phase should be to step up to a substantial buying group to allow us to compete really effectively with the nationals and put us on a more substantial footing with the major suppliers,” says Darlaston Operations Director Steve Lally.


Gibbs & Dandy offer builders’ business service


Builder customers of national merchant brand Gibbs & Dandy were offered expert help to grow their business following the Government’s pledge to drive Britain out of recession by getting the country building.


The merchant, part of Saint Gobain Building Distribution UK, held a ‘Welcome Week’ this month across its network of 29 branches for businesses that may have been affected by the closures of merchant branches and other supply issues such as availability of key items.


The week gave builders the chance to talk to the Gibbs & Dandy branch team about everything from trade terms to ensure the best possible price right through to attracting new building commissions in the local area.


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A ‘wait and see’ approach amongst construction buyers held back output for the month of August, according to the monthly IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Total Activity Index, which registered 54.6 in August, down from 58.1 in July. Any figure above 50.0 indicates growth of total construction output.


House building registered the strongest rebound since the stoppages of work in late-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic,


a trend which continued into August, with the sector showing an index figure of 60.7. Commercial work, at 52.5 and civil engineering at46.6were notably weaker than the headline index in August. Total new business volumes increased for the third month running during August, but the rate of expansion remained only modest and slowed since July. Stock shortages and an imbalance of supply and demand for construction inputs contributed to higher purchasing costs. The overall rate of input price inflation was the highest since April 2019. More than twice as many survey respondents (43%) expect a rise in construction output over the next 12 months as those that anticipate a fall (19%).


However, the rate of job shedding eased only slightly. Tim Moore, Economics Director


BMF finds retirement housing off target


More than 15 million unused bedrooms are in homes inhabited by the over-65s, according to a report by Cass Business School seen by the BMF. Under- occupation is concentrated among the elderly who tend to live in couples or alone. The report believes the 300,000 new homes per year housing target could be shrunk by 50,000 with better retirement housing provision. The ageing population will cause an increase in older households that corresponds to 36% of the projected 3.7 million increase in household formations between now and 2040. If more family homes were freed by downsizing, the knock-on effect down the property ladder would enable ‘second steppers’ to move up and allow first-time buyers onto the first rung. Several barriers were


highlighted - including a lack of suitable alternatives. Only 2.5%


of the UK’s 29 million dwellings are defined as retirement housing.


Part of the problem is that local authorities are not required to assess retirement housing needs, nor identify appropriate sites, in a Local Plan. The BMF wants this addressed by the Planning White Paper and the subsequent consultation now underway. The report recommends the Government promote the benefits of downsizing and incentivise people to do so before expensive social care is needed. One idea is to adjust Stamp Duty rates to put ‘later life’ buyers on an equal footing with first time buyers to loosen the housing market. More downsizing by baby boomers will ease hard-pressed local councils and care homes and encourage independent living, thus releasing the huge number of surplus bedrooms identified.


at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey said: “The latest PMI data signalled a setback for the UK construction sector as the speed of recovery lost momentum for the first time since the reopening phase began in May. House building remained the best performing area of construction activity, with strong growth helping to offset some of the weakness seen in commercial work and civil engineering activity. The main reason for the slowdown was a reduced degree of catch-up on delayed projects and subsequent shortages of new work to replace completed contracts in August. “More positively, business expectations climbed to a six-month high in August as construction firms turned their hopes towards a boost from major infrastructure work and reorienting their sales focus on new areas of growth in the coming 12 months.”


Benchmark drives through new branch


Builders’ merchant Benchmark Building Supplies is to open a new branch in Bredbury, near Stockport, with a drive-through service. The branch is on a 35,000 square foot site and will allow vehicles to drive directly through the warehouse in a one-way system to load up materials.


The expanded product range will include an indoor stored timber range, a new landscaping display and a new kitchen display area. Benchmark, which was bought by Saint Gobain in 2016, has branches in Ashton Under Lyne, Bolton, Marple, Mossley, Irlam and Romiley branches within the Benchmark Building Supplies North West regional network.


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net September 2020


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