Could this be a turning point in UK construction?

The UK has officially come out of a shallow recession, we have seen the fastest growth in 2 years at 0.6% in the first quarter of this year and there’s been another fall in inflation which is now at only 2.3%.

In addition to this, Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent has hinted that we will see 0.25% drop in the interest rate this summer. We certainly hope so, as this would start to open the big valve on a reservoir of pent-up development, held back over the last 2 years.

On top of that, last week, we had the announcement of a general election on July 4th - will this also bring about a further boost in confidence? No comment.

Our summer Façade Focus meeting on June 26th will be looking at “The Future of Façade Remediation”. There are still around 50,000 buildings with a floor over 11 m which need the removal of flammable materials, remediation and recladding and it should be an interesting discussion. Panellists will include architect John Neale of DMWR Architects and project manager Matthew Reading of Carter Jonas, who both worked with us on the Grosvenor Waterside recladding project in Chelsea.

We are also very proud to announce our support once again, for the SFE Façade 2024 Design and Engineering Awards as sponsors of the New Build (Project of the Year) UK category. These awards celebrate the achievement being made by our talented colleagues across Façade Engineering and Construction and deadline for entries is fast approaching on May 31st. So, get your entries in everybody and I hope you do well!