Fire Safety & Security
Stabilising supply and minimising risk
As the global supply chain continues to face vast challenges , Daniel May , Director at Consort Architectural Hardware explores its relationship with the construction infrastructure and its potential impact on fire safety and security .
Since early 2020 , the volatility of the global supply chain has plagued industries far and wide . The construction industry has felt the full force of it , with a lack of materials and long lead times inflating construction costs and placing constraints - and unavoidable delays - on projects large and small .
Despite many predicting economic recovery to stabilise , new challenges such as a surge in consumer inflation and HGV driver shortages ( to name a few ), means construction is still facing a disparity between supply and demand . As a result , year-on-year costs for building work rose by 24.5 % from March 2021 to March 2022 , with raw material costs for work involving steel , concrete , timber and glass rising by 23 % in the 12 months to September 2021 , according to the Department for Business , Energy and Industrial Strategy .
This cause and effect looks set to continue throughout the remainder of this year , with a substantial rise in costs and a decrease in production output documented as recently as February 2022 . This follows predictions from the Builders Merchants Federation and the Construction Products Association who raised concerns that the demand for construction products would exceed supply well into 2022 .
The weakened supply of key building products becomes even more problematic when you consider life safety and security . Whether a new project , or the upkeep of an existing building and its hardware , the stable supply of quality materials , components and hardware products must
remain a critical priority , albeit one that is currently met with several setbacks . Yes , external factors can create uncontrollable circumstances , but the industry must continue to focus on quality control , so to not lose the progress that ’ s been made towards a safer construction infrastructure .
Daniel May of Consort Architectural Hardware explains : “ From a construction standpoint , a supply chain begins with raw materials , contains up to thousands of companies , and ends with finished goods for the industry and end user - of which many are vital components to the way our buildings safely and securely operate . Amongst many things , the coronavirus pandemic taught us how fragile the supply chain can be , with various cogs in the
machine being caught off guard by the circumstances . In turn , this has created a backlog and led to a surge in demand for key materials and products which supply hasn ’ t always been able to keep up with .
“ As a manufacturer , two core elements have encumbered the fire safety and security hardware sector , those being cost and production output . Crucially , almost all organisations possess links to an international supply chain and regardless of where products are manufactured , the scarcity of raw materials has had a knock-on effect , especially when you consider pricing .
“ The cost of raw materials has surged and so too has the cost of transportation , where a shortage of containers and increased freight times has fallen short of
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