Materials crisis strikes Midlands as sites placed on ‘tick over’

Date: 03 May 2021

In the West Midlands some projects are now on ‘tick over’ because materials are being creamed off by HS2.

The deepening problems are being reported by employment contract services group Hudson Contract, which said its clients are now running into serious supply problems.

The firm said contractors in the West Midlands were suffering most, caught in a regional squeeze from significant house building activity and major infrastructure projects in Birmingham including new stations for high-speed rail and facilities for the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

 

Ian Anfield, managing director, said: “Our clients are reporting serious shortages in construction products on the ground.

“Clients are telling us the materials crisis is outstripping the skills shortage as the main threat to their growth prospects.”

He added: “We need radical solutions to address these problems, starting with a drive to promote local and regional supply chains in procurement.

 

“This will benefit our domestic manufacturing industries for steel and construction products and create skilled jobs in left-behind communities across the country.

“At the moment, the UK is simply outsourcing carbon emissions to other parts of the world and this over-reliance on imports has made us hostage to events beyond our control.”

Anfield warned: “Local authorities should ditch large framework agreements with the main contractors and implement ‘buy local’ policies to build up local businesses and their suppliers.”

Source: www.constructionenquirer.com

BACK
  • SHARE
Image 1 Blog
A Guide to Finding Quantity Surveyor Jobs in London
21 Jul 2023
TOP 10 SKILLS 1 Blog
Top 10 Skills That Construction Recruiters Look for in Candidates in 2023
24 May 2023
Site Engineer Job Interview Blog
Site Engineer Jobs: 7 Ways to Make an Impression During the Interview
28 Apr 2023