News

An organisation representing many consumers of cement and concrete products believes the building industry is still suffering from a shortage of skills, despite the downturn in the industry.

An organisation representing many consumers of cement and concrete products believes the building industry is still suffering from a shortage of skills, despite the downturn in the industry.

The Chartered Institute of Building's annual skills survey reveals an impending skills crisis due to the lack of apprentice recruitment.

As part of its survey of its members, the Institute found that 67% of respondents believed that the lack of apprentice recruitment is the biggest threat to the future skills agenda.

Furthermore, 52% of the sample reported that the recession has resulted in a decline in apprentice recruitment.

The survey also found that insufficient education about construction at school-level was reported by 47% of respondents as the second-biggest threat, while an ageing workforce was highlighted by 46%.

Michael Brown CIOB Deputy Chief Executive said that future investment for the industry is clearly essential.

He went on to explain that this would be pointless if the UK did not have a skilled industry capable of delivering projects. This means the industry must find ways of retaining, developing and recruiting its future human capital, Brown added.

Respondents to the skills survey also called for apprenticeship and graduate schemes to be aimed specifically at the industry.

New figures that show improved sales of aggregates, cement, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt offer a misleading picture of current industry activity.

New figures that show improved sales of aggregates, cement, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt offer a misleading picture of current industry activity.

That's the view of the Mineral Products Association (MPA) following the release of data on the performance of the construction and aggregates during the second quarter of 2010.

The figures from the MPA indicate that aggregates, cement, ready mixed concrete and asphalt sales volumes all improved in the second quarter of 2010 compared both with the same period of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

The rise in aggregate sales reflected the increase in road sector activity, but also the more general improvement in ready-mixed concrete sales as public sector construction has continued to grow in the first half of 2010.

This has also been combined with a modest increase in housing starts, but all of the increases recorded were based on historically low levels of market activity in 2009.

According to the MPA, these improvements do not, however, indicate a pattern of sustained growth. Simon van der Byl, MPA Executive Director, explained that high levels of mainly public sector investment in health, education and infrastructure have boosted construction in recent months but Government has announced very significant reductions in investment.

These reductions will significantly reduce associated construction activity as existing projects are completed and not replaced.

He went on to say that if the Government does cut construction investment to the extent predicted, construction output will flip from being the generator of economic growth highlighted in the second quarter GDP figures to being a drag and constraint on economic growth.

A Government scheme to boost public sector housebuilding has been widely welcomed and is likely to help sales of cement and concrete products.

A Government scheme to boost public sector housebuilding has been widely welcomed and is likely to help sales of cement and concrete products.

Under the New Homes Bonus scheme the government will match the council tax raised on each new house for six years.

The new drive has been designed to ease waiting lists for council houses and provide modern, efficient housing for residents.

According to Brendon Kenny of Builderscrap, a membership organisation for builders merchants dedicated to reusing building refuse, the new initiative could help millions of people off waiting lists and into affordable housing.

He went on to say that the government needs to ensure is that construction site waste is minimised and that any reusable materials are put back into the community by posting them onto BuilderScrap.

Kenny explained that statistics show that 14% of all new construction materials are wasted and simply thrown away.

Meanwhile, Adam Challis, head of research at Hamptons International, is reported as saying that the proposals will incentivise Local Authorities to build new houses.

The cost of providing services to new households can be a deterrent to cash-strapped Local Authorities and these proposals begin to re-align this cost burden with the benefits of new housing supply for the rest of society, he said.

A new type of concrete may soon offer a fresh approach to reducing the environmental impact of road traffic.

A new type of concrete may soon offer a fresh approach to reducing the environmental impact of road traffic.

In addition to CO2, conventional road vehicles produce a variety of other gases, such as nitrogen oxides (NOX) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

The latter is an airborne pollutant which, when exposed to sunlight, is responsible for the creation of smog and persistent exposure can cause health problems such as respiratory damage.

However, recent trials of a concrete that strips the air of NO2 have indicated that the material could remove up to 45% of the gas from the air.

The trials have been taking place in Holland since late 2009 when the NO2-absorbing concrete was used on a road that received especially high volumes of traffic.

Researchers from the Eindhoven-based University of Technology assessed the results produced by a 1,000 square metre patch of the material, compared to the same-sized area of standard concrete.

They established that the air immediately above the new concrete had somewhere between 25% and 45% less nitrogen oxide, results that matched earlier lab tests.

A spokesperson for the project is reported as saying that the air-purifying properties of the new paving stones had already been shown in the laboratory, but these results now show that they also work outdoors.

A scheme to build 1,000 affordable homes in Scotland has been announced and is likely to provide a boost for supplies of cement, ready-mixed concrete and other aggregate products

A scheme to build 1,000 affordable homes in Scotland has been announced and is likely to provide a boost for supplies of cement, ready-mixed concrete and other aggregate products.

The project was unveiled recently by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond who said the move would support about 1,200 housing sector jobs and 700 trades posts.

Ministers north of the border have embarked on a drive to build a new generation of affordable homes, to tackle shortages and, at the same time, they are seeking to end the right to buy for new council and social housing tenants.

Funding for the new joint house-building project will come from the Scottish government, which will invest £30m, with a further £90m coming from 22 local authorities.

Mr Salmond is reported as saying that the plan would not only provide more families with a safe and secure roof over their heads, but would deliver another timely boost to the construction industry.

Pat Watters, president of local authority body Cosla, added that councils have demonstrated their enthusiasm and capacity to deliver in the level of investment to revive council house building.

New figures from a leading investment analyst have revealed that international cement consumption is on the increase once again, and not only in the emerging markets.

New figures from a leading investment analyst have revealed that international cement consumption is on the increase once again, and not only in the emerging markets.

The latest monthly data from Jeffries International suggests continued growth in cement consumption across most of Western Europe. The UK saw cement consumption rise 11.8% and in Germany by 6.7%. France also saw a 2.7% rise when compared with the previous month's data although Spain's consumption fall by 14%.

In the USA it rose by 1.5%, the third monthly increase in succession.

Overall, emerging markets saw the largest increase in cement consumption with Russia experiencing growth of 20.7% in June, building on double-digit growth seen in the previous two months.

Meanwhile the latest data from South America indicates continued growth in Brazil (11.5%) although there was a slight fall in Argentinean consumption, around 1%.

However, the figures for both countries were down on the previous month, which saw growth of 19% and 4% respectively.

Both Asia and Africa saw monthly increases across most of the countries tracked by Jeffries, with only Korea reporting a fall in volumes (-3.35%).

Double-digit percentage growth was present in both Thailand (19.4%) and China (10.7%).