Latest news with #SubanAbdulla
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Could robotics and timber tackle Britain's housing challenges?
By Suban Abdulla LONDON (Reuters) -Gigantic robot arms controlled by artificial intelligence glide around a vast factory in Oxfordshire, England, making building frames from timber, one of the world's oldest construction materials. With the British government committed to building 300,000 new homes a year, some housebuilders say that the combination of technology and green materials could help them to overcome challenges from skills shortages to environmental targets. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Personalized rates in minutes Your Path to Homeownership A quicker path to financial freedom England lags many similar economies in terms of the share of housing accounted for by timber-framed homes. Britain as a whole, meanwhile, is among the slowest adopters of robotics, especially in construction, according to the National Robotarium research institute at Heriot-Watt University. "We're seeing more major housebuilders and small and medium-sized builders embracing timber as a way to ... overcome the skills and carbon challenge," said Alex Goodfellow, CEO of Donaldson Timber Systems (DTS). His business makes timber-frame structures for homes and commercial buildings, including walls, floors and roofs, then sends them to housebuilders for assembly. Its automated production makes for less labour-intensive housebuilding and provides a faster, cheaper and more sustainable alternative to bricks, stone or concrete blocks, the company says. A study by construction surveyors and consultancy Rider Levett Bucknall showed that building with timber is 2.8% cheaper than with masonry. FASTER CONSTRUCTION The DTS factory in Witney, near Oxford in southeast England, makes timber panelling for about 100 homes a week with designs entered digitally using artificial intelligence, reducing the need for paper drawings. DTS says its robotics and lasers enable it to produce pre-assembled sections builders can put together quickly on site. The technology reduces the time needed to build a home by about 10 weeks compared with traditional materials, Goodfellow says. Yet barriers remain to any significant increase in timber homes in England. Amit Patel at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the material is not commonly used in England because of difficulties in securing warranties for timber buildings owing to durability concerns. Barratt Homes tried to revive timber usage in the 1980s, but sales were undermined by potential rot and fire vulnerabilities. Andrew Orriss of the Structural Timber Association says that such concerns have been addressed by current building regulation and the STA's fire safety guide. He says that the off-site timber construction sector could help to deliver about a third of the government's target of 300,000 new homes per year - a level not achieved in England since the 1970s. Official government figures show that almost 200,000 new homes were built in England in 2023/24 and the Structural Timber Association said that approximately 40,500 of those were timber-frame homes. Builders including Vistry and Taylor Wimpey have opened or plan to open their own timber-frame manufacturing factory while Bellway plans to use timber in a third of its housing projects by 2030. Reduced environmental impact is another benefit touted by companies. GREENER AND LEANER? Simon Park, head of sustainability at Bellway, said timber absorbs and stores more carbon than it emits and that Bellway's analysis shows breeze blocks - made from concrete and known as cinder blocks in the U.S. - are the biggest carbon emitters among common building materials. Countering that, however, is the origin of the raw materials. About 80% of timber used in the UK is imported, mainly from European countries, while roughly 20% of its brick supply is imported. Concerns also remain over mortgage availability for timber homes, which is likely to improve if the government signals a move towards timber construction, said Riz Malik, mortgage broker at independent financial adviser R3 Wealth. An ageing workforce, meanwhile, highlights the need for more robotics. About a fifth of construction workers in the UK are over 50, according to the Home Builders Federation, with 25% of those set to retire in the coming decade. The government pledged 40 million pounds ($54 million) in June for robotics adoption hubs across various sectors, but Maurice van Sante, senior economist for construction at bank ING, says Britain's construction industry is far behind other countries in robotics use. ING estimates that there were 1.5 robots for every 10,000 construction workers in Europe in 2023, against 0.6 in the U.S. and 0.5 in the UK. As well as filling labour shortages directly, robotics opens up other employment opportunities, says DTS manufacturing director Frank O'Reilly, adding that the company has attracted more interest from tech-savvy younger workers since the factory's introduction of automation and robotics. "It (the technology) encourages young people to consider this as a career," he said. ($1 = 0.7433 pounds) Errore nel recupero dei dati Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK hiring falls but wage growth stays high, highlighting BoE rates quandary
By William Schomberg and Suban Abdulla LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's jobs market has weakened again, official data showed, with payrolls falling for a sixth month and vacancies dropping further, but wage growth stayed strong, underscoring why the Bank of England is so cautious about cutting interest rates. With the central bank's policymakers split over the risks of a hiring slump and a pickup in inflation pressures, the Office for National Statistics' figures pointed to a continued cooling of the labour market, albeit less sharply than in recent months. The number of employees on company payrolls, as measured by tax office data, fell by a provisional 8,000 in July from June, extending a run of declines that began in February but the smallest decline in that run. The reduction in June was revised down to 26,000, fewer than the originally reported fall of 41,000. Employers have said finance minister Rachel Reeves' decision to raise a tax on them is weighing on their staffing and pay decisions, as well as causing an increase in their prices. Basic wage growth in the private sector - watched closely by the BoE - edged down to 4.8% in the three months to June. But overall average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, grew by 5.0%, unchanged from the three months to May and above the 3% level seen as consistent with the BoE's 2% inflation target. "Today's labour market figures underline the stagflation quandary facing the Monetary Policy Committee," Jack Kennedy, senior economist at job website Indeed, said. "While a further rate cut in November remains on the cards, it's not a done deal with wage growth remaining elevated amid concerns over inflation persistence." The BoE last week cut interest rates to 4% from 4.25%, but only after a tight 5-4 vote by the MPC, which expects headline inflation to hit 4% soon, double its 2% target. Sterling rose slightly after the jobs figures were published and investors trimmed their bets on the possibility of another BoE rate cut this year. They are fully pricing another cut only in February 2026, according to LSEG data. Thomas Pugh, chief economist at tax and consulting firm RSM UK, saw signs that the hit to hiring caused by the tax hike on employers and a sharp increase in the minimum wage was fading. "It looks like the worst of the adjustment to the big increase in labour costs is now behind us, and that the labour market is now stabilising," Pugh said. However, Tuesday's data showed that the number of job vacancies fell by 44,000 in the three months to July to 718,000, the lowest since the three months to April 2021. Britain's unemployment rate in the three months to June held at 4.7%, its highest since the second quarter of 2021, although that figure was based on a survey of households that the ONS is overhauling and has said is not currently reliable. In one positive sign for the BoE and the government, the inactivity rate - which measures people out of work and not looking for a job - fell to its lowest since the start of the coronavirus pandemic at 21%.
Zawya
26-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
UK retail sales tumble in June and worse seen for July, CBI says
British retail sales slumped this month and expectations within the industry for July also deteriorated, a Confederation of British Industry survey showed on Thursday. The CBI's monthly gauge of how retail sales compared with a year earlier fell to -46 in June from -27 in May. A measure of expected sales for July fell to -49 from -37 for June. (Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by Suban Abdulla)
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK food inflation highest in 11 months, likely to rise further, BRC says
By Suban Abdulla LONDON (Reuters) -British food price inflation jumped to its highest in nearly a year in April, according to a survey published on Tuesday that said higher costs for retailers could put further upward pressure on shop prices. The British Retail Consortium warned of the risk of further upward price pressures in the coming months as the industry faces increased costs, including a new packaging levy coming into force in October. Food prices were up by an annual 2.6% in April, a stronger rise than March's 2.4% increase, and the biggest increase since May 2024 when they rose 3.2%, the BRC said. But overall shop prices fell by 0.1% in the 12 months to April after an annual fall of 0.4% the month before. Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, which publishes the data with the BRC, said he expected shoppers to remain cautious about spending on discretionary items despite the later timing of Easter this year having helped sales. The Bank of England is trying to gauge to what extent the higher tax burden for employers will lead to price rises in stores and increase the risk of persistently high inflation pressure. Britain's headline rate of inflation slowed to 2.6% in March, but the BoE expects it will reach around 3.7% later this year, nearly double its 2% target against a backdrop of rising household bills and higher labour costs. Last week BoE Governor Andrew Bailey, who warned of a hit to growth from U.S. tariffs, said he hoped the expected increase in inflation would prove transitory. A separate BRC survey, published on Tuesday, showed more than half of human resources directors expect to reduce hiring due to the government's planned Employment Rights Bill. The bill, which proposes a raft of protections for millions of workers including guaranteed minimum hours, greater hurdles for sacking new staff and increased sick pay, is currently being debated in parliament. "It is crucial that poor implementation of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill does not add further pressure to costs – pushing prices further up, and job numbers further down," BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said. Sign in to access your portfolio
Zawya
26-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
UK house prices jump by most in two years, ONS says
British house prices rose at their fastest pace in two years in the 12 months to January, according to official data published on Wednesday. Average house prices rose by an annual 4.9% to 269,000 pounds ($346,956.20) in January 2025, the fastest increase since January 2023 and up from a 4.6% increase in the 12 months to November, the ONS said. Private-sector rents across Britain in February were 8.1% higher than in the same month last year at 1,326 pounds a month, slowing from January's 8.7% rise. ($1 = 0.7753 pounds) (Reporting by Suban Abdulla; editing by Sarah Young)
