Only six packages reported any change this quarter as work loads stabilised, says Brian Moone of Mace. Overleaf, Mace Business School examines the skills crisis

01 Going up

  • Cladding (natural materials)
  • Atrium roofs
  • Stone internal floor and wall finish

02 Staying level

  • Piling (pre-cast)
  • Piling (rotary)
  • Concrete works
  • Structural steel frame
  • Cladding (metal panellised)
  • Roof finishes (profiled metal roof)
  • Facade cleaning equipment
  • Brickwork
  • Blockwork
  • Drylining
  • Demountable partitions
  • General joinery
  • Specialist joinery
  • Raised floors
  • Suspended ceilings
  • Architectural metalwork
  • Decorative wall covering
  • Floor finish (soft)
  • Non-standard passenger lifts
  • Escalator
  • Suppliers (electrical)
  • Suppliers (mechanical)
  • Ductwork
  • Controls specialists
  • Boiler rooms
  • Air conditioning
  • VAV units
  • Uninterruptible power supplies
  • Switch gear
  • Generators
  • Data and voice cabling
  • Sprinklers

03 Going down

  • Cladding (reconstructed stone)
  • Cladding (curtain walling)
  • Roof finishes (asphalt and membrane)

04 Lead times summary

Both precast and rotary piling have stabilised at seven and five weeks respectively, following their slight drop last quarter.

For concrete works lead time remains at 10 weeks for a further quarter.

The increase in structural steel frame has stabilised and remains at 15 weeks.

For reconstituted stone and natural material cladding lead times have fluctuated, with the former falling by four weeks to 22 and latter rising by three weeks to 32.

Following the previous increase of curtain wall cladding there has now been a fall in the lead time to 44 weeks.

Metal panellised cladding remains static, with a lead in of 36 weeks.

Atrium roofs lead times have increased by two weeks to 27.

The fall in profiled metal roof finishes over the past six months now seems to have stabilised, with no reported change.

Despite the market forecasting an increase in asphalt and membrane roof finishes there has been a slight fall of one week to nine this quarter.

Facade cleaning equipment has remained static at 35 weeks for the past 12 months.

Brickwork and blockwork continue to stand at 10 weeks, with no anticipated significant change over the next quarter.

Drylining remains at eight weeks with no forecasted increase for the next quarter.

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

General joinery remained at 11 weeks for the second quarter, while specialist joinery has also stabilised 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 12 months.

The lead time for suspended ceilings has become static at 15 weeks, having previously fluctuated between 15 and 16.

Architectural metalwork remained static at 12 weeks for the past 12 months.

The average lead in of suppliers of Decorative wall covering has remained at four weeks for the past 21 months. The order books for the next quarter are forecast to remain steady.

Stone internal floor and wall finish returned to its steady increase after levelling off in the past quarter and is up two weeks to 24 weeks.

Soft floor finish remained at seven weeks.

Non-standard passenger lifts lead time remained at 31 weeks.

Escalators remained at 24 weeks having levelled off last quarter.

Electrical packages and mechanical packages remained static, at 23 and 20 weeks respectively.

Ductwork remained at seven weeks.

Lead times for controls specialists stabilised after their fall last quarter.

Boiler rooms and M&E plant and equipment including air-conditioning, VAV units, uninterruptible power supplies, switch gear, generators, data and voice cabling and sprinklers remain unchanged from the previous report.

Last quarter saw a number of specialist contractors reporting a reduction in lead times; the workload now seems to be stabilising with only six packages

reporting any change. Although most contractors are reporting no change, there is still a relatively high proportion that continue to forecast a rise in the coming months.

The specialists contractors are reporting shortages of staff, particularly in the areas of project management, estimating and specialist design.

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