A challenging landscape lies ahead in 2024 for our industry once again as the ongoing subdued economic backdrop continues to dent consumer confidence.

Operating costs in conjunction with fixed price contracts also continue to have a deep, and sometimes damaging impact on contractors and the wider supply chain. According to the latest data analysis of insolvencies by Mazars, construction companies accounted  for 17% of all insolvencies last year.

However, while we continue to face uncertainty, we remain focused on supporting  customers through key industry-wide sustainability initiatives, legislative support, and improvements in our service offering.

In a bid to tackle the UK’s climate warming emissions, the UK Government is committed to delivering zero-carbon homes by 2025 through their Future Homes Standard. The breadth of solutions we deliver, alongside our expertise in building solutions and testing, enables us to support housebuilders, contractors and self-builders who will be delivering new buildings to the Future Homes Standard.

British Gypsum remains committed to our own sustainability roadmap while supporting customers and suppliers in achieving their own objectives too. In 2023 we made considerable progress, focusing on areas such as increasing recycled content in our  manufacturing process, sourcing alternative energy supplies, and improving energy efficiency across our sites.

A further focus has been reducing waste in our manufacturing process and onsite. In collaboration with housebuilders and drylining contractors a recent action includes responding to their need to stock additional plasterboard sizes, in our combined efforts to reduce onsite plasterboard waste. Housebuilders identified the requirement for 2300mm plasterboard lengths while for high-rise residential projects, drylining contractors are now requiring 2800mm plasterboard lengths to better meet building design and reduce waste. From January 2024 a range of these newly sized boards is available, having previously only been available through our made-to-order service.

Operationally, we continue to invest in our distribution network to better support merchant customers through our service offering. Our fleet is now 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) capable, and we have on-going development and trials into the optimisation of consolidated loads, which have proved successful as we look to provide customers with more flexibility and a more sustainable delivery service.