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

The year 2016 finished strongly, continuing the momentum set in Q3. The second half-year was well up against the first half of 2016, and significantly up on the second six months of 2015. After a year dominated by Brexit politics, the politics of Q4 was totally absorbed in the US presidential elections. The aftershocks are still continuing and Twitter’s profile has been raised. Maybe this was a side show, light relief to Britain’s domestic turmoil. Either way, the market got on with spending and building.

Back to reality! The steel lintel market is strongly reliant on house building and RMI, and both sectors improved in the second half of 2016. At the end of Q1, many were questioning if house building could deliver the projected volumes in 2016. It looked unlikely but, by the end of the year, the numbers were achieved.

The house building market is positive and projections for 2017 are good. However with increasing input costs across a wide range of building materials, how long can the construction industry absorb these increases? Steel increases, prominent in our product range, may have distorted our own volume trends over the past six months and, all the signs are, there may be more steel cost pressures to come.

The long awaited Housing white paper arrived, pledging financial support for offsite construction. It’s important we understand the risk this holds to traditional manufacturers, and merchant supply-chain partners. Traditionally sourced materials may now be bought directly from Europe or other sources, bypassing British businesses entirely.

We support the positivity around construction, and we all need to play a part in protecting our futures. Product innovation will be the key, but that doesn’t necessarily mean off-site. Products that help to simplify the build process will be of greater value in the built environment.

In simple terms, thermally performing traditional cavity lintels, while more expensive, are of greater value to the build programme than two separate lintels. We have a duty to promote good building practices for traditional building methods, using new innovative products.