June constructsteel newsletter

Activity in Britain’s construction sector increased in April, but growth was lopsided, with residential housebuilding suffering its steepest decline since May 2020, weighed down by weaker demand and higher mortgage rates. There has also been steep fall in residential building work for the fifth month in a row in April. Meanwhile, commercial construction was the second strongest in six months, boosted by an improvement in Britain’s economy and a rebound in business confidence.

The UK government has announced an investment of more than GBP 450Mn (USD 558.89Mn) to refurbish and repair school buildings across every region of the country, as a part its plan to improve the condition of the national school infrastructure. In the financial year 2023-24, the government has made an overall investment of GBP 1.8Bn (USD 2.23Bn) in capital funding.

The Dodge Momentum Index, a benchmark that measures nonresidential building planning, dropped 5.1% in April, largely due to slower commercial activity for offices, hotels, and retail stores, according to a Dodge Construction Network report. The index, which was still up 11% from a year ago, typically leads actual construction spending by 12 months. The decline follows a larger 8.6% tumble in March, predominantly spurred by tightened lending standards and jitters over recent bank failures. Link

The downtrend in China’s construction activity is expected to continue into June, keeping Chinese steel prices under pressure. The weakness in the construction sector is expected to be led by a seasonal slowdown, while some positive momentum in infrastructure construction is unlikely to offset the slowdown in new home starts. The operation rate of China’s engineering machinery also declined to 64.69% in April from 65.05% in March.

Japan committed INR 70.8Bn (USD 8Bn) to India for three infrastructure projects, including Patna Metro Rail Construction Project and Rajasthan Water Sector Livelihood Improvement Project. Japan would fund Patna Metro Rail Construction Project (I) of JPY 98.612Bn (USD 710 Mn) and Rajasthan Water Sector Livelihood Improvement Project (II) of JPY 18.894Bn (USD 140Mn).

Construction work on a reservoir costing more than 100 Bn yuan (USD 12.3Bn) has started in China’s Chongqing municipality. The Zaodu Reservoir project will protect towns along the Qijiang River as well as increase the annual water supply in the area by 179 million cubic metres, according to China Global Television Network, the international division of state broadcaster China Central Television. The reservoir is due to start operating in October 2027.

The Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors has attracted projects worth EGP 2.150Bn (USD 70Mn) for Egyptian contracting companies in several African countries. The partnerships between Egyptian and African contractors contributed to establishing coalitions among national contracting companies as well as boosting urban expansion.

Construction input prices were 1.1% lower than a year ago in April, the second consecutive month that the cost to build a given project decreased compared to the same period in 2022. For the month, overall construction prices inched up 0.2%, while nonresidential costs gained 0.4%. Still, those relatively minor increases couldn’t overshadow the latest positive takeaway for construction when it comes to material prices.

A Californian start-up has developed an admixture and inline-delivery system that allows 3D printing with normal, delivered, pumpable concrete.
The SpaceCrete system uses inline mixing to modify the pumped concrete with a special admixture called 3D-Admix. According to Butler only 0.25% of 3D-Admix is required to transform normal concrete into SpaceCrete.

UK’s Brick sales fell by 32% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 2022, but are expected to gain ground in the coming months. The fall in demand means that brick imports have begun to fall sharply, reducing by 45% relative to 2022 in the first quarter.

More than a quarter (28%) of construction decision-makers in the UK and Ireland believe that volatility in the economy and the industry has prompted a “significant” increase in digital investment over the past three to six months, while 75% say it has driven a net increase.

The Circlewood consortium, a collective of architects, engineers, builders, and researchers, designed a modular building concept that will act as the basis for up to 30 schools in Amsterdam. The three-storey plug-and-play system called the HoutKern Bouwmethode consists of standardised wooden columns and cross-laminated floors connected by recycled steel joints. Components are digitally controlled to decrease assembly times and are built on-site with the help of an electric crane.

Siam Cement Group, a cement and building material company in Thailand and Southeast Asia, revealed the successful completion of the first 2-story 3D printed building in ASEAN. The building is the first 3D-printed medical centre in the world.
The medical centre, located in Saraburi, Thailand, was constructed using a COBOD BOD2 3D concrete printer.

The University of Johannesburg completed South Africa’s first-ever 3D printed building, with a collaborative effort between UJ’s Department of Architecture and Design and the Department of Science and Innovation. The team utilized a CyBe Robot Crawler and a cement-based material.

Tutor Perini’s profits plunged as a negative legal ruling, accounting rules, and the completion of a major airport project impacted both its net income and revenue during the first quarter of 2023. The firm reported a loss of USD 49 Mn, more than double the USD 22 Mn, it lost during the first quarter of 2022. Revenue fell 18% from a year earlier to USD 776 Mn. Given those adverse impacts to its books, Tutor Perini withdrew its financial guidance going forward.

Jacobs earned USD 216.5Mn in its second quarter of 2023, a 144% increase from USD 88.8Mn a year ago, according to the company’s earnings report. Revenue for its second quarter jumped to USD 4.08Bn compared to USD 3.83Bn in the prior year, up 7%, due to critical infrastructure, including water, transportation, and sustainability work. Backlog hit USD 29Mn, a 4.3% rise from last year.

Spanish construction giant ACS’ first-quarter profit rose 20% to EUR 163Mn (USD 179Mn), led by soaring revenue in North America which accounts for more than half of its business. Total sales in the first three months of the year reached EUR 8.1Bn (USD 8.92Bn), up 17.1% from a year earlier, while revenue in the United States and Canada jumped 62%. ACS also highlighted growing revenue in Australia.

Hochtief’s order book rose 30% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the year before, as sales and profits also increased. Hochtief’s revenue for the first quarter of 2023 was EUR 6.2Bn (USD 6.8Bn), a 16% increase on the same period a year before.

In 2022, Ferrovial Construction (UK) Ltd experienced a loss and saw its order book shrink by 25% along with a lot of staff jack in site working for a more comfortable work-life balance. Ferrovial’s revenue was up 8% to GBP 493Mn (USD 618Mn) with an operating loss of GBP 30.4Mn (USD 38Mn).