The Construction Products Association is urging UK designers, contractors and supply chain members to “be more French” – by insisting that their own national products are specified on projects delivered at home and overseas.
“The Brits are different from the French. A French designer is far more likely to take French products and subcontractors with them, while British contractors and designers are more likely to say ‘we’ll specify the best in the world’. We’d like them to be a bit more pro-British manufacturers.”
The CPA’s deputy chief executive, John Tebbit, made the comments to CM as he outlined a new two-year project to boost construction product exports.
The CPA is working with UK Trade & Investment to identify SME product companies that have never exported, and make them aware of both the opportunities and the support available.
The project was included in the Action Plan of the Industrial Strategy for Construction, as a means of narrowing the trade deficit in construction products. Each year UK manufacturers export products and components to the value of £6bn, but imports stand at around £12bn.
Tebbit also said that he hoped the challenge of boosting exports across construction as a whole, including professional services and contracting, would bring the three strands of the industry together.
“We are saying to manufacturers and suppliers, as they develop their supply chains in schools and hospitals, talk to the specifiers and say ‘would you support us if we start exporting?’ And if they’re setting up a distribution network overseas, they could put the contractors name about a bit – it’s mutual back-scratching. At the moment we’re all a bit too reticent and British.”
“Historically, the industry has been fractured, but if we can join up the various groups across the entire supply chain that will lead to a lot of benefits.”
The CPA has launched a survey for SME product manufacturers on their attitude to exporting, which is available here.
It is thought there are around 25,000 manufacturers and suppliers in the construction products sector, while the CPA only represents around 20% of this number. However, it represents around 80% of the sector by value.
