Derrick McFarland, Managing Director Keystone Lintels is BMBI’s Expert for Steel Lintels

The steel lintels market for Q2 2017 continued to grow at a similar rate to Q1. Year-on-year, Q2 grew approximately 6-7%, and was up 3% on Q1. The daily figures have been fairly constant over the quarter. One interesting trend that stands out is the growth of non-standard and special lintel solutions which are growing at double digit levels. This strong growth is also evident in thermal performing steel lintels.

The House Building sector has continued to deliver steady growth and we are seeing some of the more entrepreneurial SME housebuilders expanding their business to close the gap with the nationals in the housing market. New housing registrations statistics are encouraging and as long as consumer confidence is maintained, the new housing sector seems to be on a steady climb.

The RMI sector is visibly improving, as can be seen just by rough counts of the number of skips in the road. This was the basis of The Sunday Times economist David Smith’s Skip Index. It’s a very useful rule of thumb measurement. RMI seems to have really increased over the past quarter and we are experiencing enquiries increasing by over 15%. With a degree of positivity in the market, it is a shame the politicians will soon be returning from their summer break.

The industry is however concerned with material & labour availability and price surety impacting on the market. We are also concerned about compliance to standards and regulations. This is particularly prevalent with new innovative products, such as the new thermally performing lintels, where new design standards and regulations are required. We have ourselves a dedicated team, working in partnership with builders to raise awareness and provide product training for designers, SAP assessors and site teams on new products.

This focus on product awareness with the builder, coupled with merchant branch training initiatives is designed to support merchant partners to stay informed about the changes in the market, and engage with new recruits to the industry, promoting good practices and merchant sales.

See the full Q2 Report here: https://www.bmbi.co.uk/the-index/