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

The lintels market moves broadly in line with Heavy Building Materials, which were 2.9% up in Q4 2015 compared to Q4 2014.

Heavy Building Materials did better than total construction. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates construction grew by just 0.4% compared to Q4 2014.

Private house building was up 5.4% year on year, and new housing continues to be one of the stronger performers in construction. That’s important because new buildings need lintels above every window and door.

Government has challenged housebuilders to improve the SAP ratings of their buildings. The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) assesses the energy ratings of new homes.

The Government’s adoption of SAP, as part of a UK national standard to improve carbon emissions and the energy efficiency of our housing, is having a huge effect on the way we build. The calculation of SAP ratings takes account of the structure of the building, the heating and hot water system, internal lighting and renewable technologies in the home. The higher the score, the lower the running costs.

The calculation is complicated, but determining the optimum design is more complicated because housebuilders need to achieve higher ratings without significant increases in cost. Everyone wants more energy efficient homes. But they don’t want to pay a lot more for them. Helping housebuilders achieve higher ratings is driving innovation in all components, including lintels, to develop technically advanced, thermally efficient products.

Competition has intensified and expanded to include any product solution that helps housebuilders achieve better, cost effective SAP ratings. So, lintels now compete with rival brands of lintels, plus renewables, lighting and a wide range of products.

New, innovative lintels must perform structurally and thermally, while being easy to install. Currently the most advanced lintels are acknowledged by housebuilders to be the single most cost effective solution for lowering carbon emissions within SAP.