Lead times May-July 2008

01 / Going up

• Rotary piling
• Structural steel frames
• Facade cleaning equipment
• Ductwork

02 / Staying level

• Pre-cast piling
• Concrete works
• Cladding (reconstituted stone)
• Cladding (natural material)
• Curtain wall cladding
• Metal panellised cladding
• Atrium roofs
• Profiled metal roof finishes
• Asphalt and membrane roof finishes
• Drylining
• Demountable partitions
• Specialist joinery
• Raised floors
• Suspended ceilings
• Architectural metalwork
• Decorative wall covering
• Stone internal floor and wall finish
• Soft floor finish
• Non-standard passenger lifts
• Escalators
• Mechanical packages
• Controls
• Ductwork
• Controls specialists
• Boiler rooms
• Air conditioning
• Uninterruptible power supplies
• Switch gear
• Generators
• Data and voice cabling
• Sprinklers

03 / Going down

• Brickwork
• Blockwork
• General joinery
• Electrical packages

04 / Lead times summary

Rotary piling lead times have increased by three weeks to 10 weeks while precast piling remained stable at five weeks.

Lead time for concrete works remained at 10 weeks for the third quarter running.

Following a short period of stabilisation last quarter, structural steel frames lead times have increased by four weeks to 19 weeks, owing in part to lack of steel availability.

Cladding – reconstituted stone and natural material lead times have stabilised at 22 weeks and 32 weeks respectively.

Following previous fluctuations, curtain wall cladding systems have stabilised at 44 weeks.

Metal panellised cladding systems remained static with a lead in of 36 weeks.

Atrium roofs lead times have stabilised at 27 weeks.

For the second quarter, profiled metal roof finishes have stabilised at 13 weeks.

Asphalt and membrane roof finishes remain at nine weeks for the second quarter running.

Having been static for the past 12 months, lead times for facade cleaning equipment increased by five weeks to 40 weeks, largely owing to growing complexity of projects.

Brickwork and blockwork have been affected by the industry downturn, and lead times have reduced by three weeks to seven weeks for brickwork and by five weeks to five weeks for blockwork.

There is no forecasted increase for the next quarter for drylining , which remains at eight weeks.

Demountable partitions remained at eight weeks as order books stayed constant.

The lead time for general joinery has reduced by one week to 10 weeks while specialist joinery remained stable at 15 weeks.

The lead time for raised floors remained static at six weeks; there has been no change in this lead in time for the past year.

The lead time for suspended ceilings was static at 15 weeks for the second quarter.

No change for architectural metalwork , which has remained static at 12 weeks for the past 12 months.

Decorative wall covering has remained at four weeks for the past two years – with no change forecast.

Stone internal floor and wall finish remained static at 24 weeks.

Soft floor finish remained at seven weeks.

Non-standard passenger lifts lead time remained at 31 weeks. Standard lifts can reduce this lead time by about 15 weeks.

Escalators remained at 24 weeks.

Electrical packages were down by four weeks to 19 weeks while mechanical packages remained static at 20 weeks.

Ductwork increased one week to eight weeks.

Controls remained stable at eight weeks.

Boiler rooms and M&E plant and equipment currently stand at 14 weeks for air-conditioning, 16 weeks for uninterruptible power supplies, 23 weeks for switch gear and generators, and nine weeks for data and voice cabling and sprinklers . However, specialist larger equipment including biomass boilers, CHP plant and solar equipment were on longer lead in times, owing to higher demand for sustainable building.

Many specialist trade contractors are forecasting an increase in capacity over the next few months, but some still believe that busy order books will return in the medium and longer term and that projects delayed will get the go-ahead. Of the packages reporting increased lead times, a number are affected by the availability of steel.

See file attached.