CPA Weekly Notes 4th April 2025

Issue No. 1144, 4th April 2025 FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Association Activities

Tariffs
CPA Economics Director Professor Noble Francis has written a blog on the new tariffs that were announced by President Trump this week. The blog can be accessed here.

Construction Products Reform Green Paper Webinar – 3rd April 2025 The CPA has collaborated with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to host the Building Safety Minister, Alex Norris MP for a webinar where he discussed the Construction Products Reform Green Paper, with CPA CEO Peter Caplehorn. A recording of the webinar will soon be made available and will be shared with our members.

CPA Spring Lunch Bookings Now Closed
Bookings have now closed for the CPA Spring Lunch. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you!

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

U.S. ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ on Imports (April 2025)
HMRC UK Residential Property Transactions (February 2025)
Bank of England UK Mortgage Approvals (February 2025)
Nationwide UK House Price Index (March & Q1 2025)
Travis Perkins Delayed Full-Year 2024 Results (April 2025)

The CPA’s Winter Forecasts were published on Monday 27 January and is available for members to download from the CPA Website, along with the accompanying webinar hosted by Noble Francis.

Weekly Calendar of Meetings

Peter Caplehorn, CPA Chief Executive, will chair two meetings of the CLC’s Standards and Regulatory Alignment Group to develop industry responses to the Government’s Green Paper: one about ‘product regulations’ and one about ‘regulators and surveillance’; will join a regular meeting of the MHCLG Safer Greener Buildings (SGB) Industry Consultative Group to discuss building safety and performance at a strategic level; and will attend the weekly meeting of the Construction Leadership Council’s Task Force.
Jane Thornback; CPA Sustainability Policy Advisor, will present to the CLC Task Force meeting on the subject of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging; and attend a BSI meeting about B/558 Sustainability of Construction Works.
Mark Wilkinson, Senior Technical Manager, will join the two meetings of the CLC’s Standards and Regulatory Alignment Group (chaired by the CPA) to develop industry responses to the Government’s Green Paper: one about ‘product regulations’ and one about ‘regulators and surveillance’.
Hanna Clarke, Digital and Policy Manager, will have a variety of meetings with industry colleagues and civil servants around competence.

Economy Updates

Economy

The S&P Global UK PMI for manufacturing fell to a 17-month low of 44.9 in March, down from 46.9 in February. Within the reading, UK manufacturing production declined for the fifth straight month and at the quickest pace since October 2023. The downturn was widespread, with contractions signalled across all sub-sector definitions (consumer, intermediate and investment goods) and all size categories. Small-scale producers saw the steepest decrease in output. New order intakes were reported to have fallen at the quickest rates since the pandemic and lockdown affected months of 2020.
The S&P Global UK PMI for services was 52.5 in March, up from 51.0 in February and the highest reading since August 2024. This was still lower than the long-run series average (54.3). Higher levels of business activity were attributed to improving order books. Although only marginal, the upturn in new work was the fastest since last November. Survey respondents commented on pockets of growth in business and consumer spending, although this was balanced with many reports citing challenging business conditions, linked to constrained household budgets, rising risk aversion among clients and elevated geopolitical uncertainty.
The price of Brent Crude oil decreased 3.4% month-on-month and 15.1% year-on-year to $72.6 per barrel in March, according to the World Bank. This marked the lowest monthly average since August 2021.
The Sterling/Dollar exchange rate averaged 1.29 in March, according to the Bank of England. This was 2.9% higher than in February and 1.5% higher than a year earlier. Against the Euro, the Sterling averaged 1.19, which was 0.8% lower than in February but 2.1% higher than a year earlier.

Housing

According to Nationwide, UK house prices were flat month-on-month in March, whilst in annual terms, house price growth was 3.9% in March, the same rate as in February. The average UK house price was £271,316 in March. The lender’s quarterly regional house price indices showed a continued north-south divide in house price performance with prices in Northern England (comprising North, North West, Yorkshire & The Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands) up 4.9% year on year, outperforming 2.5% growth in southern England.
Data from the Bank of England showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase totalled 65,481 in February. This was 0.8% lower than in January but an 8.2% increase from a year earlier. It also matched the monthly average between 2018 and 2019, pre-pandemic.

For further information contact rebecca.larkin@constructionproducts.org.ukuk

Parliamentary and Government Update

Chancellor Delivers Spring Statement
A full copy of the Spring Statement can be found here. The CPA sent out a weekly notes special analysing the announcement, that can be found here.

10 Year Infrastructure Strategy
The Treasury has published a working paper setting out the Government’s plan for its 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy. The Strategy seeks to reduce uncertainty, by bringing together a long term plan for the country’s social and economic infrastructure, as well as housing. The Strategy will also set out an institutional framework to support its implementation, including setting out the role of public financing institutions such as the National Wealth Fund and how the Strategy will support other strategies such as the Industrial Strategy. The Treasury paper can be found here.

Recess
Parliament we be in recess from 8 April 2025 and returns on 22 April 2025

Industry News

Make UK Launch Skills Report
The Make UK Industrial Strategy Skills Commission’s report, Skills for success: the reforms essential to our economic future was launched by Make UK Chief Executive Stephen Phipson CBE and former Minister Robert Halfon, who co-chairs the commission.
The report calls on the government to back a UTC Sleeve initiative that would develop a high-quality technical education pathway within mainstream schools, and also calls for an exemption for UTCs from the Schools Bill’s requirement for all schools to deliver the national curriculum. The report also includes a case study of The JCB Academy, one of the oldest UTCs and an excellent example of the 44-strong network of schools that each year progresses more young people to apprenticeships and technical degree courses than the national average. The report can be read here.

Help Shape the Future of Digitisation in Construction Product Manufacturing
Construction product manufacturers across Europe are invited to complete a short survey on how they share digital product data. The survey is part of a research study by Aston University in partnership with the Manufacturers’ Information Hub – a not-for-profit collaborative project run by European construction product manufacturers to simplify and standardise how we share our product information. The survey aims to understand your challenges and opportunities, helping to inform best practices and potential future standards. The survey takes 5-10 mins to complete and runs until 11^th April 2025. You can complete it here.

Unpacking the impact of the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report
The CPA’s Technical Manager Mark Wilkinson was a speaker on a webinar on the 1st of April as he and the other panelists unpacked the key recommendations from the Inquiry, the government’s planned actions, and their potential impact on housing providers, councils, developers, and tenants. The webinar was hosted by building.co.uk and you can watch a recording here.

Key discussion points include:

A breakdown of the government’s response and its alignment with the inquiry’s findings.
The evolving regulatory landscape for fire safety, cladding remediation, and building accountability.
Implications for registered providers, councils, and construction professionals.
The role of tenant engagement and advocacy in driving cultural change.
Long-term challenges and opportunities for delivering safer homes.

CPA In The News

Glimmer of hope shines amid ‘deep concern’ over Trump tariffs
Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis said the move would cause uncertainty and pricing volatility for UK construction, which will be factored into prices and lead to inflation. “It is likely to mean higher uncertainty, volatility in pricing, and a shift, over time, towards different trade routes. Only around 15 per cent of UK construction materials and products are exported, but for those materials and products that are exported to the US, then the tariffs will make a significant difference short-term.”
Construction News | 22/04/2025 | Online

England’s road-building budget cut by 5%
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said road building had declined over the past three years, and the industry was expecting another fall this year after the government delayed its planned roads investment strategy and cut projects including the Stonehenge Tunnel in the last Budget. “The government keeps talking about investment and growth but cutting road projects isn’t the way to deliver that. What is needed is government investment that will give the private sector the confidence to invest in jobs and technological innovation,” he said.
FT.com | 30/03/2024 | Online

Doubt cast on Rachel Reeves’ claim Labour will be in ‘touching distance’ of building 1.5 million homes
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association (CPA), told Big Issue “the government will fail to meet its target by around 50% and even that is assuming strong growth”. He added that the CPA’s forecasts show Labour is facing a challenge to hit 1.1 million new homes before the next election with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), housing associations and local authorities all facing barriers to building.
Big Issue |28/03/2025 | Online

Heathrow’s shutdown fuels questions about UK’s infrastructure resilience
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: “Companies tend to spend on maintenance, renewals and expansion in capacity but for fundamental infrastructure there needs to be significant investment in resilience and contingency so they can deal with big one-off disruptions.”
FT | 21/03/2025 | Online

Construction Job Ads Rise despite Gloomy Indicators
Rebecca Larkin, head of construction research at the Construction Products Association, said the pick-up in postings could be caused by two factors. She told Construction News that the likes of plasterers and finishers could be in demand for office refurbishments, which “have been strong over the past 12 months and continue to benefit from increasing awareness of the minimum energy efficiency standards that will be required for commercial properties over the next five years”. Larkin added: “There’s also likely to be an element of preparedness and getting ahead of the curve in other areas, with the increase in rail-related job postings clearly influenced by High Speed 2 in expectation of the work progressing from civil work to track laying and signalling packages.”
Construction News | 19/03/2025 | Online

Britain pledges 600 million pounds to tackle construction skills shortages
Many skilled workers are also nearing retirement age. The Construction Products Association estimates that the industry will lose 500,000 employees, representing 25% of the total workforce, to retirement over the next 10 to 15 years.
MailOnline | 22/03/2025 | Online

Government Proposes Overhaul of Construction Product Regulations
Transparency is another key area of reform. The Construction Products Association previously introduced a voluntary code of practice for honest marketing following concerns raised after Grenfell. The government now wants to formalise these principles by requiring all construction products to carry clear and accessible safety labelling.
Building Design & Construction (Online)| 27/02/2024 | Online

What installers need to know about the Code for Construction Product Information
And after Dame Judith Hackitt raised it in her report, the Construction Products Association set up a group called the Marketing Integrity Group, and they went through a two-year process working across industry to create the CCPI, and that was a great start.
Installer | 03/03/2025 | Online