News

The winners of the Construction Marketing Awards 2021 were announced last night at a glittering ceremony in London. The crowning moment of the 2021 programme took place in-[person, with an excitable crowd clearly pleased to be #TogetherAgain.

ADEY Innovation scooped Marketing Team of the Year, Fabrick (right) won the Agency of the year gong, while Genuit working with SLG Marketing won the Strategic Planning & Management Award.

See a full list of winners.

We will not be producing a printed winners’ book this year, but will instead be distributing a pdf. Partly we are looking to reduce our carbon footprint, and partly we are hoping that distributing a pdf will mean more people will get to see a copy. If you would like to receive one, please complete the form below.

This year’s CMA Dinner will be the first time that many of the dinner regulars will have seen each other for two years, as of course we were unable to stage a dinner in 2020.

To celebrate that, we’re asking everyone to tweet pictures of joyous reunions – maybe of your team getting together on the way to the dinner, or as you get ready together, or maybe as you arrive at the event, and bump in to old friends.

Tweet them with the hashtags #CMA21 and #TogetherAgain to share them with everyone, and we’ll pick them up and …. well, you’ll have to wait and see!

September data revealed another growth slowdown in the construction sector, with output volumes rising to the smallest extent for eight months. This partly reflected softer demand conditions than the peak seen earlier in the summer. Survey respondents also cited disruptions on site from unavailable transport, a severe lack of materials and continued staff shortages.

A rapid drop in sub-contractor availability was reported in September. Imbalanced demand and supply contributed to the steepest rise in sub-contractor charges since the survey began in April 1997. Some firms noted that the unpredictable pricing environment had slowed clients’ decision-making on new orders and led to delays with contract awards.

At 52.6 in September, down from 55.2 in August, the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI Total Activity Index dropped further below the 24-year high seen in June (66.3). The latest reading signalled only a moderate expansion of total construction output and the weakest speed of recovery for eight months. Reports from survey respondents linked the slowdown to a combination of supply chain issues and softer demand.

All three broad categories of construction activity saw a loss of momentum in September, with the biggest slowdown seen in
civil engineering (51.0, down from 54.8 in August).

House building also decelerated in September, with the latest expansion the weakest since the recovery began in June 2020 (52.8). This left the commercial segment (53.6) as the best-performing category during September. Resilience in this sub-sector reflected a continued boost to order books from the reopening of the UK economy.

Construction companies recorded a moderate increase in new work during September, with the rate of growth easing sharply to its weakest since the start of 2021. The slowdown was linked to hesitancy among clients and less favourable demand conditions.

September data indicated another strong rise in employment numbers across the construction sector, driven by greater workloads and stretched business capacity. However, the latest rise in staffing levels was the least marked since April, which partly reflected long wait times to fill vacancies.

A lack of sub-contractor availability added to the squeeze on labour supply in September. Shortages of sub-contractors also led to additional cost pressures, with rates charged for sub-contracted work increasing at a survey-record pace.

Purchase prices increased rapidly in September, although the rate of inflation eased further from June’s all-time peak. Around 78% of the survey panel reported a rise in their cost burdens, which was mostly linked to supply shortages and transport surcharges.
Meanwhile, the latest survey illustrated that construction firms remained highly upbeat about the business outlook. Just over half (51%) forecast rising output, while only 8% anticipate a decline. However, the degree of confidence was weaker than
August amid some concerns that the supply chain crisis will hinder growth.