CPA Weekly Notes – 3rd July 2026

Issue No. 1208, 3rd July 2026 FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Association Activities

Sponsor the CPA Autumn Lunch 2026
Preparations are now underway for our Autumn Lunch 2026, which will take place at the Brewery on the 5th of November. Tickets will go on sale later in the summer, but we are already looking for sponsors to help support this special event. If your company would be interested in becoming a sponsor, please take a look at the sponsorship form and get in touch with Fabi for more information.

CPA Gives Evidence to Lords Committee
Rebecca Larkin, CPA, Head of Construction Research gave evidence this week to the Built Environment Committee, New Towns: Bricks and Mortar. The recording of the session can be found here.

Weekly CPA Meeting Calendar

Peter Caplehorn, CPA CEO, is attending a Make UK event, From Crisis to Stability: A Future Energy System for Manufacturers. He will also be attending CLC Building Safety Workstream, CLC Meeting, and CLC BSR New Build Operational Performance meeting. In addition he will attend the CLC Product Standards & Regulatory Alignment Group Meeting and the Industry Consultative Group meeting.
Amanda Long, CPA Deputy CEO, will be attending a Construction Product Reform Consultative Group roundtable meeting which she will be co-facilitating and attending a British Standards Institution GSR Working Group session.
Noble Francis, CPA Economics Director, will be presenting at the Bathroom Manufacturers Association AGM Presentation.
Jane Thornback, CPA Sustainability Policy Advisor will convene the CPA Sustainability Policy Group Meeting, will attend a House of Commons reception on Net Zero, and will attend the Energy Intensive Industries Stakeholder Forum run by the Dept of Business and Trade.
Rob Lee, CPA Senior External Affairs Manager will be attending The Make Uk event and will attend a briefings session at the Liberal Democrats HQ

Economics Update

CPA Weekly UK Economic and Construction Update
The latest weekly update can be found here it includes:

DBT UK Brick Deliveries (May 2026)
HMRC UK Residential Property Transactions (May 2026)
Bank of England UK Mortgage Approvals (May 2026)
Nationwide UK House Price Index (June 2026)

The CPA’s Spring Forecasts were published on 5th May and can be found here.
The State of Trade Survey 2025 Q4 was published on 14th May and can be found here.

Government Update

Creamy/White Limestone from Portugal Survey
The Trade Remedies Authority are currently investigating imports of Creamy/White Limestone from Portugal. The investigation could result in a tariff on these products.
They would like to invite users of these products to participate in a survey which will help them understand the effects that a potential tariff on imports of Creamy/White Limestone from Portugal might have on businesses.
Find out more about the current investigation here, including more detailed information about the products being reviewed by the investigation. the survey can be accessed here before it closes on 31st July 2026.
For further information please contact AS0079@traderemedies.gov.uk.

PackUK publishes updated version of the Recycling Assessment Methodology
PackUK has published an updated version of the Recycling Assessment Methodology for 2027 (RAM 2027) for large producers registered with the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) scheme. RAM 2027 covers the reporting period 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027, with the submission deadlines of 1 October 2027 (H1) and 1 April 2028 (H2). Until submitting data to those deadlines, large producers under the pEPR scheme should continue to use the current RAM 1.1 which covers the reporting period 1 January to 31 December 2026, with the submission deadlines of 1 October 2026 (H1), and 1 April 2027 (H2). Full guidance to RAM 2027 is available here.

Call for Evidence on the Built Environment Professions, Trades and Occupations
MHCLG has a Call for evidence: Strategy for the built environment, professions, trades and occupations(published May 2026).
The call for evidence is designed to gather information about the key factors that influence how people work across all stages of the building lifecycle and covers all building types. Submissions to the call will inform development of a new strategy for the built environment professions, trades and occupations.
The two webinars are open to the public and will:

Explain the aims of the government’s new long-term strategy for the built environment professions, trades and occupations.
Set out the purpose, scope, and structure of the call for evidence.
Take questions about the call for evidence.
The Call for evidence will close 12 August 2026.

The UK ETS Authority has published a report on Small Emitter (HSE) emissions and targets for the 2025 scheme year
This report contains the names of and small emitters and all hospitals participating in the UK ETS Hospitals and Small Emitters scheme from 2021 to 2025, along with their targets and actual emissions for each year. View the report here.

CPA Consultation Tracker
With an increasing number of consultations being launched by government, the CPA has launched a tracker with those consultations that are relevant to CPA membership. It can be found for members here.
New consultations will still be reported the Weekly Notes for a limited time.

Industry News

BDO – Building Products & Services – Sector Insights 2026
BDO have released their latest report on Building Products and Services it can be accessed here. There is also an accompanying webinar here.

British standard on construction products competence published for public consultation
BS 8670-2 Built environment – Core criteria for construction product competence – Code of Practice has been published for public comment this week, closing 13 July. The standard aims to bring consistency across all how all disciplines working with construction products and product information throughout its life cycle. It does this by describing the core principals that should be included in all competence frameworks, training and qualifications. It also may impact how organisations delegate responsibilities with construction products in the organisations and their supply chain.
BS 8670-2 originates from the white paper that CPA published on behalf of WG 12 – Construction Products Competence – that has since been superseded by SLG 5 – Construction Products Manufacturers under the Industry Competence Steering Group, and has contributions from much of the CPA membership and colleagues across the Industry Competence Steering Group.
BS 8670-2 is available for comment here.

CPA in the News

Defying Expectations
As the Construction Products Association’s Economics Director, Noble Francis , stated plainly during an early session on Day One, the UK economy is merely “muddling through” in the face of sustained global instability and a government that has added “more tax , more costs and more bureaucracy.”
Professional Builders Merchant| 1/07/2026 | Print

Poll shows construction professionals believe Brexit was wrong
However, Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis said Britain’s departure from the EU was not the primary cause of the decline.
“The majority of the loss of skilled construction workers in the UK since 2019 Q1 has not been due to Brexit,” he said. “It has been [from] the older demographic of UK-born construction workers, specifically those between 50 and 64 years old.”
Europe Says| 23/06/2026 | online

‘Constant flow’ of new towns needed if products sector is to ramp up capacity, Lords told
Rebecca Larkin, head of construction research at the Construction Products Association, said that “early engagement with the supply chain is absolutely key” to the success of the government’s proposed programme of new urban developments. But she emphasised that “it does have to be a constant pipeline”, explaining that “the industry has been so disappointed over decades of major projects or major schemes of projects not coming through, it’s easy to lose confidence in large government announcements about new towns.”
Building| 23/06/2026 | online
Also in Housing Today

Price Volatility Challenge
The latest CPA forecast points to another difficult year for new build, with housing starts and completions both set to fall. But while lower demand presents obvious challenges, price volatility poses an even greater threat to installer profitability.
The latest Construction Products Association forecast makes for difficult reading. Private housing output is forecast to fall by 7% in 2026, with housing starts down 10% and completions falling by 6%, as higher borrowing costs, weaker buyer confidence and ongoing planning challenges continue to weigh on the market. The CPA rather unreassuringly describing it as a “perfect storm” for housebuilders, with recovery not expected until 2027 at the earliest.
Vision Magazine| 22/06/2026 | online

NMBS Conference aims to go beyond the expected
This year’s theme, Beyond the Expected, set the tone for a programme focused on practical insight and real‑world application. On the first day, delegates heard from speakers including Professor Damien Hughes, the Construction Products Association’s Noble Francis, and Ken Hughes, a Keynote Speaker on Consumer Behavior & Innovation, as well as Tradeaze’s Jack Hopkins, and AI specialist Jonathan Bein, and Stuart Barker, who brought military leadership perspective to the topic of cyber security.
BMJ| 12/06/2026 | online

A rallying call to the industry
The Construction Products Association’s latest forecasts, just released by CAB to its members, highlight the real scale of the crisis. In 2026, private housing volumes are predicted to fall 7%, with repair and maintenance down 3%, and the commercial sector down 3.7%. Things are not expected to stabilise until 2027, but even then, any growth next year is likely to be limited to between 1 and 2%.
Glass Times| 17/06/2026 | online

Building material deliveries continue to fall
Rebecca Larkin, head of construction research at the Construction Products Association, said demand in April was “noticeably subdued”. She told Construction News: “Although deliveries of bricks and blocks both improved compared to March, due to better weather, deliveries were lower than a year earlier, reflecting the caution shown by housebuilders in starting new work. Further falls in production and deliveries recorded in other materials such as slate, ready-mix concrete and sand & gravel point to lingering weakness beyond house building, in non-residential sectors of construction such as commercial and industrial.”
Construction News| 03/06/2026 | online