CLC plans to ease impact of construction inflation

In May 2022, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) set out plans to mitigate the impacts of steep inflation that are hitting companies across the sector.

The recent Ukraine crisis has compounded existing challenges of materials' supply and prices, caused by the aftereffects of COVID-19, escalating global demand, and supply chain disruptions.

This has resulted in difficulties, in both the availability and cost of many key materials used by the sector, with cost increases of 50% reported for some products in recent weeks, the CLC say.

Bringing together experts from across the sector to look at the options available to reduce these impacts, it is recognised that many of the factors driving the materials crisis are outside the control of businesses and the UK Government.

The CLC says it is seeking to co-ordinate industry effort to minimise risk and reduce the impact of inflation where it can. Its plan includes:

• Developing market intelligence about risk hotspots
• Publishing guidance on price inflation indexation, and commercial issues
• Preparing case studies on good practice in response to current inflation
• Running industry briefings on conflict avoidance
• Researching long-term capacity loss from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, and impacts on sector

CLC member and Mace Group Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Reynolds said: "Across our industry we are seeing businesses facing real challenges with inflation that are well above those seen in the sector for many years. There is no one party that can tackle this issue alone and we can't pass the problem on to others to solve. We all must work collaboratively – clients, contractors and everyone in our supply chain – to provide support where possible to limit the impact on firms nationwide."

Further information will be published in the coming weeks.

This article was originally published on the CIAT website on 25 May 2022.

--CIAT

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