Firms and public and private sector bodies involved in the construction industry in the North East have been invited to an emergency summit to address the deepening materials shortage crisis. The summit is a cross industry event to raise awareness of this important issue and to discuss possible solutions.
Construction Alliance North East (CAN) is working with other regional bodies to stage the Construction Products & Materials Summit to address the worsening materials shortage crisis.
The summit will be held on October 1st and is a direct result of discussions between CAN, the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) and Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) to discuss price inflation and shortages which continues to stall or ground to a halt the sector’s progress.
Construction Alliance North East chair Ken Parkin said: “Businesses across our region have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of sites during the various periods of lockdown, staff issues and now ongoing materials shortages in our industry, means many firms are still battling the financial impact of the pandemic.
“The industry has never faced this situation before so It is important that CAN understands national issues which affect us here in the North East so we can learn from this in future and explain it to our regional membership. CAN strongly believes that planning ahead and working collaboratively with suppliers and clients is the only way to minimise the impact of this global issue on North East contractors.”
The summit will include key stakeholders in the construction and infrastructure sector including the Builders Merchants Federation and Bevan Brittan, with an expert panel offering analysis, insight, and practical solutions on working collaboratively to solve this ‘whole industry’ problem.
Jonathan Walker, policy director at the North East England Chamber of Commerce said: “The materials shortage crisis is one that is starting to have a widespread impact on construction firms in our region. Forecasted project costs are needing to be reconfigured as businesses weigh up the inflated materials costs, while other contractors are unable to start work on key projects because they just don’t have the physical supplies needed to fulfil contracts.
“New barriers to trade following the UK’s departure from the European Union have added additional friction to construction material supply chains.”
