CPA Weekly Notes – 29th August 2025

Issue No. 1166, 29th August 2025 FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Association Activities

CPA Autumn Lunch 2025 | 13 Nov 2025 – Last Chance to Book
We have just a handful of tables and individual seats remaining for our Autumn Lunch at The Brewery in London on Thursday, 13 November 2025 and hope you can join us.  The CPA Autumn Lunch is recognised as one of the most important construction industry networking events, attracting a senior audience from across the construction supply chain including manufacturers and suppliers, clients, contractors, as well as influential political and media contacts. View this page to book your place.

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.

CPA Webinar Recording now available: Construction Industry Forecasts – Summer 2025 Edition 
Watch the recording of the forecasts webinar here. To download the latest Construction Industry Forecasts – Summer 2025 click here.

Economics Update

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

• Insolvency Service Construction Insolvencies (June 2025)
• HMRC UK Residential Property Transactions (July 2025)

The CPA’s Summer Forecasts, published 28 July, are available for members to download from the CPA Website.

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..francis@constructionproducts.org.uk; alternatively, you can click here to read it now.

Government Update

Parliament will sit again on 1st September 

Consultation on Late Payments
The Department for Business and Trade has launched a consultation seeking views on proposed legislative measures to ensure companies pay their suppliers quickly and on time, including measures to address the use of retention clauses in construction contracts.  This is an important consultation for construction both in terms of the proposed options for retentions and the wider general payment measures.  DBT wants CPA members to recognise that retentions may not be a direct issue for our manufacturers, but payment certainly is.  The consultation runs for 12 weeks and closes on 23 October 2025. Further details can be found here.

Industry News

Regulatory science challenges to the uptake of innovation for Net Zero in retrofit 
CPA is a project partner in this Innovate-UK funded network project to explore the regulatory challenges to the uptake of innovation for Net Zero in Retrofit.  This one-year project is now entering its third quarter and the Network (BRE, National Retrofit Hub, National Energy Foundation) will convene an open meeting for anyone interested in learning about progress on 29 September 2025 from 13.30 to 15.00. Register at RetroNetZero RS&IN – BRE Group Events. For further information contact Jane Thornback

Review of Government Buying Standards (GBS)
The Government is reviewing the  Government Buying Standards – these are guidelines that state that any new government procured building should be BREEAM Excellent, and any major refurbishment should achieve a BREEAM Very Good rating. There are also GBS for product groups such as windows, wood products, paints and varnishes, domestic gas boilers, Showers, taps, toilets, and others. Defra has issued a stakeholder survey here and will be convening webinars in September. Find the GBS for different product groups here. For further information contact Jane Thornback.

Government consultation on growing the market for low carbon industrial products – deadline 15 Sept
A reminder that there is just over one month left to respond to this government consultation on a technical consultation on a policy framework to grow the market for low carbon industrial products The CPA will be making a response and convened on 14 August as an opportunity for CPA members to engage with DESNZ officials directly. If you have views on the consultation, please do get in touch by contacting CPA Sustainability Policy Advisor Jane Thornback.

Building Safety Webinars
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will be hosting a joint webinar on Tuesday 9 September, 10am to 12 noon on Building Control Approval applications. The free webinar is aimed at developers in the construction industry who want to approach building control approval applications effectively, avoiding common mistakes. A panel discussion will cover the recently published CLC guidance for the Building Control Approval application process for a new Higher-Risk Building (HRB).
The CLC guidance suite was published in July 2025 and was developed by the CLC, BSR and industry experts. The guidance aims to provide the baseline principles to guide those involved in submitting and assessing applications for Building Control Approval applications (Gateway 2). While the guidance was developed for new build HRBs, many of the principles will also be helpful for existing HRBs. In addition, the BSR will also run the following webinars:

17 September – 10am to 12 noon – Building Control Approval demystified for SME developers
24 September – 10am to 12 noon – Building Assessment Certificate applications – lessons learned You can register for the webinars here.

National Manufacturing Day – 25 September 2025
National Manufacturing Day is an initiative from Make UK and more than 300 manufacturing businesses and organisations including the CPA that is meant to showcase the UK industry and inspire the next generation of engineers, designers, and wider workforce by showing them the exciting career opportunities in your sector.  Whether you’re a small local manufacturer or a household name, this is the perfect platform to open your doors and share your story with the future talent, the public and government. To learn more, please visit National Manufacturing Day or contact the team at Make UK with your questions.

CPA in the News

A spotlight on Scottish construction
The third quarter looks optimistic as construction output is forecasted to rise by 1.9% this year and 3.7% in 2026, according to the Construction Products Association’s (CPA) Summer Forecasts. .
Project Scotland | 18/08/2025 |Online

What can architects learn about new guidance around products critical to safe construction?
Developed in collaboration with the Construction Products Association, the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI), the Institution of Structural Engineers, and RIBA, the guide is free to download and particularly relevant to designers. It focuses on identifying safety-critical products and systems, and outlines processes to demonstrate their compliance.
Architecture | 13/08/2025 |Online

Guide to Products Critical to Safe Construction published
The guide was published in collaboration with the Construction Products Association [CPA], Code for Construction Product Information [CCPI], Institution of Structural Engineers [IStructE] and Royal Institute of British Architects [RIBA].   
CIC | 05/08/2025 |Online
Also in Scottish Construction Now, Construction Management, Build News, Specification Online, CLC, IFSJ, Roofing Today.

Quiet month for business failures masks unresolved problems
“It’s good to see that administrations and insolvencies have slowed” as housebuilding gradually recovers, said Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association.
CN | 07/08/2025 |Online 

Bank of England interest rates ‘provides confidence’
“Today’s decision should be seen as a green light by investors,” Chetwood Bank chief executive, Paul Noble said in reaction to the interest rate cut. “Rates are now far below their peak, and the lending markets should respond in turn. Pent-up demand can now be released, and we should expect activity levels to rise in the aftermath of today’s news.” For Noble Francis at the Construction Products Association (CPA), the widely-forecasted lowering of the Bank of England’s base rate will have little immediate effect but will, nonetheless, be a welcome move.
CN | 07/08/2025 |Online

Brick, gravel and cement block sales fall in early summer
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said the government data on brick consumption was a “useful proxy for housebuilding starts in the absence of monthly starts data”. “We would have expected deliveries to rise significantly in April, May and June, but demand and housebuilder near-term optimism has slowed significantly in 2025 Q2 [second quarter] and July,” he wrote on X. “Deliveries in June 2025 remained 18.9 per cent lower than the 2018-19 pre-pandemic average and 28.5 per cent lower than the post-pandemic peak of housebuilder optimism in early 2022. “The lack of significant pickup in demand and housebuilder optimism in 2025 Q2 and July is concerning as this would have been expected early in the year and is needed for housebuilding completions in 2025 H2 [second half].”
CN | 07/08/2025 |Online