As the managing director of Halifax-based Elland Steel Structures, BCSA president Mark Denham has witnessed both Brexit and Covid-19 stop decision makers in their tracks and take a 鈥榳ait and see鈥� approach before committing to construction programmes.
听鈥淲hen they鈥檙e unsure what鈥檚 going on in the market, they stop. So, during the elections and all the uncertainty over Brexit, the orders stopped,鈥� he says. 鈥淢arket conditions deteriorated around November, December and January. Now, as steelwork fabricators, we were still busy but the gestation period means we feel the effects months later.鈥澨�
鈥淚t鈥檚 been the same with Covid. People in our industry who weren鈥檛 busy in March, April and May weren鈥檛 hit by Covid 鈥� it was other things. Now we鈥檙e seeing the market struggling to the end of the year but we do see signs of a lot of work coming to fruition that will keep us busy throughout 2021. It鈥檚 the same lag, there鈥檚 just a different reason for it.鈥澨�
And this time-lag means that the industry is out of step with the rest of the UK economy. While other industries took advantage of the furlough scheme, the construction steel industry was still hard at work fulfilling orders. Now, when the scheme is coming to an end, is when BCSA members need the furlough scheme to keep their staff employed.
Denham鈥檚 own company is a typical example. Elland Steel had three large contracts to fulfil that were commissioned back in 2018: Wood Wharf Building 3, part of a 15-storey building in Canary Wharf; Kings Cross S1, a 12-storey office block; and Building 100, The Embankment Manchester 鈥� a nine-storey office building in Salford. In total that is nearly 5,000 tonnes of steel worth 拢15m to Elland.
None of these contracts could be delayed, so through the furlough period Elland鈥檚 45 operatives on the shop floor were still working normally (albeit with extra PPE, social distancing and hand sanitising stations) while 45 office-based staff worked from home.
鈥淔or us it was like the phoney war 鈥� it didn鈥檛 affect us that much. The experience of my company was that the vast majority of our sites were not shut down during February and March,鈥� Denham reports.听
鈥淭here was the odd day when sites were shut and obviously measures were taken to mitigate risk and there were issues with hotel accommodation etc., but generally sites carried on running. For these type of sites 鈥� and larger 鈥� I think our experience was pretty similar to that of听听other steelwork contractors. I think it was a little more difficult for smaller sites where some decided to cease activities straight away but they probably re-opened within two to three weeks.鈥�
The challenge now, Denham says, is to persuade the government to modify its 鈥榦ne size fits all鈥� approach and recognise that the construction industry is not like, say, the hospitality industry. There鈥檚 no 鈥榚at out to help out鈥� equivalent to help maintain cashflow for construction firms.
鈥淲e鈥檙e lobbying government for an extension to the furlough scheme for construction because now we鈥檙e hitting this dip in demand,鈥� Denham argues. 鈥淓veryone in construction is affected, whether it鈥檚 the concrete guy, the cladding guy or steel: every element in the construction industry is facing the same issue.鈥�
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