CPA Weekly Notes – 11th July 2025

Issue No. 1159, 11th July 2025 FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Association Activities

CPA Webinar: Construction Industry Forecasts- Summer 2025 Edition – 30 July 11am
We would like to invite you and your respective members to join the CPA webinar for our Construction Industry Forecasts – Summer 2025 Edition. The webinar will cover the UK economy this year, the latest construction data, and the new construction forecasts for the key sectors, as well as highlighting key risks to the economy. Click here to register.

CPA Autumn Lunch 2025 – Get on board and sponsor our event
CPA’s lunches are recognised as one of the largest networking events in the industry – so why not get your brand recognised too? We have great sponsorship offerings to get you the best possible coverage, pre and post-event! Click here to view the sponsorship package. If you have any sponsorship related question, please get in touch with Fabi.

Economics Update

CPA Weekly UK Economic and Construction Update
The latest weekly update is available here, including:

ONS Construction Output (May 2025)
Bank of England UK Mortgage Approvals (May 2025)
RICS UK Residential Market Survey (June 2025)
Vistry 2025 H1 Trading Update (July 2025)

The CPA’s Spring forecasts were published on Monday, 28 April, and are available for members to download from the CPA Website. The CPA’s Summer forecasts will be published on Monday, 28 July.
Also note that the ONS has suspended its monthly UK building materials price data (and other producer price data) due to concerns about its reliability, which the CPA has been highlighting since the impacts of the energy and price spikes in Spring 2022.

CPA Briefing Paper: The Impacts of U.S. Tariffs
Following strong demand from members and government alike, the CPA’s economics team has published a briefing paper on the ‘Impacts of U.S. Tariffs’. This document will be revised as the situation develops, and made available to CPA members every Friday with our Weekly UK Economic and Construction Update (see above). To receive this document via email every Friday please contact noble.francis@constructionproducts.org.uk; alternatively, you can click here to read it now.

Government Update

BSR Publishes Data
The Building Safety Regulator have published data on building control approval applications received, determination times, decision outcomes and performance against statutory time limits, up to March 2025. The report and data can be read here and explanatory notes can be read here.

MHCLG have released further details on the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme this week.
The Government has published a long-term plan ‘Delivering a Decade of Renewal for Social and Affordable Housing’ this week, including:

The government is setting an ambition to deliver around 300,000 new social and affordable homes, through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme announced at the Spending Review.
- Through this, the Government are setting a target that at least 60 percent of homes will be for social rent which is linked to local incomes – achieving this would mean delivering around 180,000 homes for social rent. That is six times more than the decade up to 2024. 
A long-term plan – Delivering a Decade of Renewal for Social and Affordable Housing – is being published to set out how the Government will deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, alongside driving up the safety and quality of homes.
- Living standards for social housing tenants will also be driven up under new plans to update and modernise the Decent Homes Standard, which will be extended to privately rented homes for the first time, and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards will be implemented for the first time in the social housing sector.
- Further measures set out in the plan will include changes to Right to Buy and other measures to protect council housing stock, unlocking investment in new and existing social housing, and increasing overall standards alongside a “rallying call for the sector to step up and deliver”. 
The Government is also publishing a consultation on how to implement a convergence measure, with options for this being capped at £1 or £2 per week– with a final decision to follow at this year’s Autumn Budget.

House of Lords call for Evidence on the Building Safety Regulator
The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, chaired by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, has launched an inquiry into building safety regulation, with a particular focus on the work of the Building Safety Regulator, which was established following the Building Safety Act 2022. Concerns have been raised by Industry that delays in approvals by the BSR have slowed down the delivery of new buildings and homes. The Committee invites interested individuals and organisations to submit evidence here by 31 August 2025.ery of new buildings and homes. The Committee invites interested individuals and organisations to submit evidence here by 31 August 2025.

Industry News

BSI PAS 2000 Webinar
The BSI are hosting a webinar to showcase how PAS 2000 supports construction product stakeholders in bringing safer, trusted products to market with confidence. The webinar is being held on July 30^th, 2-3pm. You can register for the event here. The main points covered in the webinar include:

The background and purpose of PAS 2000, including its role in advancing product safety.
A walkthrough of the document’s structure and practical application.
How PAS 2000 supports manufacturers, importers, distributors, specifiers, and end users.
Key milestones, including the DPC deadline and publication roadmap.
How to engage with the standard and provide meaningful feedback during the DPC phase.

Electrical Distributors Association – Talking Shop Live Online: Industry Insight in 90 Minutes.
The online event takes place 8th August at 11:00. Please register here to register. The meeting brings together EDA Board Members, Wholesaler Buying Group Heads, and Senior Executives from Wholesaler, Manufacturer, and Solution/Service Provider businesses for a sector specific exchange of information and views.
In this session we’ll be joined by Accountant and Business Consultant, Peter Hill. He will be delivering a short session on Protecting your business: credit checks and other risk mitigation. In addition there will be discussion on:

Wholesaler and Manufacturer insights from the latest EDA State of the Sector Survey
Latest EDA news and information

Survey re Industrial Strategy Reactions
The CPA is a member of Make UK, the umbrella trade organisation representing all UK manufacturing, and following this week’s Government announcement about the new Industrial Strategy, Make UK is running a flash survey to gather initial reactions. It’s short at only 8 questions and very high-level and can be answered in a matter of minutes.
This survey is an important piece for both ourselves and for feedback to Government. In the first instance, this is naturally one of the largest policy wins our industry has seen in recent times so it’s important to measure how sentiment reflects this, and secondly, some of the most important announcements are due to be meted out consultatively with Government over the coming months, therefore member feedback is critical.
Please help the industry bring back to Government the much-needed feedback following these announcements, as Make UK and the CPA continue to shape the impact of the Industrial Strategy in the coming weeks and months. Our sector’s feedback now will shape how beneficial these interventions will be, for example, how much energy cost support the sector ultimately receives.
Take the survey here: Industrial Strategy 2025 – Manufacturers’ initial reactions Survey
For more detail about the announcement, and to see Make UK’s initial comments, see here : Government launches Industrial Strategy: Make UK’s reaction | Make UKand months. Our sector’s feedback now will shape how beneficial these interventions will be, for example, how much energy cost support the sector ultimately receives.
Take the survey here: Industrial Strategy 2025 – Manufacturers’ initial reactions Survey
For more detail about the announcement, and to see Make UK’s initial comments, see here : Government launches Industrial Strategy: Make UK’s reaction | Make UK

CPA in the News

Building Products & Services: the sectors to watch in 2025
The Construction Products Association (CPA) forecasts an 8% rise in private housing output in 2025, following two years of decline. The Government’s increased housebuilding targets, despite affordability challenges, are expected to stimulate the market. Measures in the new housing strategy, set to be announced in the summer, should bring growth and opportunities across the supply chain…
BDO Global | 02/07/2025 |Online

Brick deliveries up but housebuilding activity ‘years away’ from 1.5m target
Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis said the brick-delivery figures were in line with expectations, which reflected “that housebuilding starts are recovering from a very low base as interest and mortgage rates gradually fall while housebuilding completions will not rise as rapidly”. He added: “We are still years away from 2022 levels of housebuilding, never mind the types of levels of housebuilding that government would need to get anywhere near its 1.5 million net additional homes in England during the five-year parliament target.”
Construction News | 02/07/2025 |Online