A five-point plan to mitigate the impact of rising inflation on construction companies has been published by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC).<\/p>\n
The list \u2013 created by the CLC in conjunction with sector experts \u2013 aims to resolve issues around the availability and cost of key materials amid current pressures.<\/p>\n
Problems around the supply and expense of building materials have been exacerbated by recent disruptive global events, such as the Ukraine crisis, according to the council, which flagged up reports of 50 per cent increases for some products in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The CLC added that the plan represented ambitions to co-ordinate an industrywide effort to minimise risk and reduce the impact of inflation where possible. It includes:<\/p>\n
Speaking about the plan\u2019s launch, CLC member and Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said: \u201cAcross our industry we are seeing businesses facing real challenges with inflation that are well above those seen in the sector for many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no one party that can tackle this issue alone and we can\u2019t pass the problem on to others to solve. We all must work collaboratively \u2013 clients, contractors and everyone in our supply chain \u2013 to provide support where possible to limit the impact on firms nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the CLC said it hoped to have guidance on inflation indexation by early June at the latest and that it would publish research on long-term capacity loss from Ukraine by the summer.<\/p>\n
It is also asking the sector for its views on how the current supply difficulties are affecting businesses across UK construction to \u201cguide and inform\u201d further action.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, material prices shot up again after a period of gradual decrease<\/a>, following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, with timber and steel two of the hardest hit materials. To add to this, inflation also rose by 9 per cent in the 12 months to April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).<\/p>\n Last week, manufacturing experts called for a bespoke taskforce to assess the health of the UK\u2019s current and future supply chain to protect manufacturers against unpredictable \u201ceconomic shocks\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n