4% growth in the UK inclusive bathroom and kitchen products market

The UK inclusive bathroom and kitchen products market is estimated to have increased by around 4% in 2017, when compared to the market size in 2016 - despite the uncertain general economic situation and a slowing construction sector. Growth is thought to have been stimulated by a higher level of housing completions, which supported demand for inclusive bathroom and kitchen products at this time. The outlook for the market in 2018 looks moderately positive with good growth anticipated into the medium-longer term.

Following a decline in 2012, which was experienced across the general construction industry, the UK inclusive bathroom and kitchen market started to recover from 2013. The pace of growth then accelerated in 2014 -2015, with a steady recovery in the housing market and an improvement in both business and consumer confidence levels supporting RMI activity. 2016 also experienced growth, although at a lesser pace than previously.

The largest sector within the inclusive kitchen and bathroom products market is showering facilities, which continues to dominate sales, partly due to many baths now being replaced by easy access shower enclosures and wetroom areas. Other significant sectors within this market include bathroom accessories, inclusive kitchen facilities, toilet facilities and bathroom taps & mixers, while baths account for a smaller share.

Inclusive kitchens are predominantly used by wheelchair users and tend to be custom-built solutions designed specifically to a homeowner’s requirements. Products include rise & fall units, lever-operated or remote sensor operated taps and mixers, shallow depth sinks, large/deep storage drawers, linear induction hobs and ‘slide and hide’ ovens.

A key factor in the growth in demand for inclusive bathroom and kitchen products is the aging population. In addition, the number of multi-generation households in the UK is also increasing. The shortage of suitable affordable housing for elderly relatives in need of care is driving more families to house three generations in one property, and these types of households have increased by over 42% in the last decade. Similarly, the trend towards care in the community has also contributed to the increasing numbers of elderly and disabled people continuing to live at home.

The inclusive bathroom and kitchen market has been positively impacted by new product development and the trend towards product solutions that are suitable for all users. As such, inclusive bathroom and kitchen products have become much more aesthetically pleasing. Consumers are increasingly demanding attractive designs that will ‘future-proof’ and add value to their property; and are also suitable for all family members to use.

A significant proportion of the inclusive bathroom and kitchen products market represents direct sales from the specialist manufacturer or supplier to the end-user, which is common practice with specialised products. Other channels include merchants and distributors plus home improvement multiples, many who offer own branded goods. In addition, the level of inclusive bathroom and kitchen products sold via online retailers has seen significant growth in recent years.

Hayley Thornley, Market Research Manager at AMA Research said:

“With an increasing number of elderly and disabled people in the UK, and the continued trend towards multi-generational households, the growing demand for inclusive bathroom and kitchen products looks set to continue. By 2022, the market value is forecast to have increased by 16% compared to the market size in 2017.“

There will continue to be a very large demand for disability adaptations in existing homes. This is partly driven by Government funding for Disabled Facilities Grant programme provision, which rose to £394 million in the 2016-17 funding period, and is projected to increase to over £500 million by 2019-20. In terms of new housing, the 2015 revisions to Part M should continue to support demand for inclusive bathroom and kitchen products specified in this sector.

Technological improvements such as rimless WC pans with low flush technology, digital shower controls, shower toilets, automatic rise and fall kitchen units, and TMV3 approved thermostatically controlled mixer taps will also add value to this market sector. As aesthetics increase in importance, there will be an increased focus on quality and design, which should support a shift towards higher value products.

The ‘Inclusive Bathroom and Kitchen Products Market Report – UK 2018-2022’ report is published by AMA Research, a leading provider of market research and consultancy services with over 25 years’ experience within the construction and home improvement markets. The report is available now and can be ordered online at www.amaresearch.co.uk or by calling 01242 235724.

Electrical Products Distribution Market Report - Online Focus - 5 Key Facts

• The market for the online distribution of electrical products grew by 299% between 2012 and 2017.
• 42% of online sales of the electrical product market are distributed via internet only distributors.
• Lighting has the largest share within the electrical products market, making up 20% of the market by value.
• Online sales represented only 3% of the electrical products market by value in 2012, this grew to 8% in 2017.
• Over half the overall electrical products market is distributed via direct sales and electrical wholesalers.

These facts have been extracted from AMA Research's 'Shower Market Report - UK 2017-2021 Analysis' available for purchase now. 

Shower Market - 5 Key Facts

• The shower equipment market is expected to grow by over 13% in the next 4 years.
• Electric shower controls account for the greatest proportion of the controls market by volume with 51% of the market.
• Shower screens account for around 16% of the enclosures, screens and trays market by value in 2017.
• Traditional enclosure shapes account for around 52% of the enclosure market by value, though wetrooms/glass panels and walk-ins are gaining share.
• The shower accessories market is expected to grow by around 19% over the next 4 years.

These facts have been extracted from AMA Research's 'Shower Market Report - UK 2017-2021 Analysis' available for purchase now. 

UK data centre construction market worth around £1.1bn following two years of growth

The UK construction market for data centres is estimated to be valued at around £1.1bn in 2017, following two years of market growth. Performance has been positive in recent years, with high take up of space in the co-location sector from late 2015 onwards. In 2016 and 2017, the data centre market benefitted from major investment decisions from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM and Google, and there are several other major data centres being developed across the UK, which should provide further impetus to the market in the next year or two.

The commercial, or co-location, sector has experienced the greatest level of growth, boosted by major data investments from global players in the last two years. Co-location providers account for a significant proportion of new build data centre projects and data centres in this sector are built to a high specification. While growth in the commercial sector has outpaced the private data centre sector, most of the existing data centre estate still belongs to private businesses.

In contrast, expenditure in the public sector has fallen slightly as the Government’s cloud-first policy has led to increased outsourcing and use of wholesale and co-location providers to reduce its IT expenditure. Output in the private sector has remained static since 2015, as businesses increasingly seek to adopt cloud-based solutions and reduce reliance on in-house data centres, recognising the cost, efficiency and security benefits associated with using commercial data centre provision.

A key driver for data centre construction has been the rapid growth in demand for data storage. Consumers’ demand for digital content continues to grow, particularly due to increasing levels of online video streaming, downloading of other media such as music and reliance on social networks. In addition, ongoing rapid growth in mobile data usage is fuelling demand. Greater levels of online shopping, banking, information services etc, have also led to rapidly increasing amounts of data being processed over networks.

By far the largest geographical UK data centre cluster remains in the London and M25 area, though there is growth in other areas with large campus style data centres established in Wiltshire, Leicestershire, South Wales and Cambridgeshire. Manchester and Scotland are also becoming more established data centre markets. This trend of migration from London to other regions, offers cheaper alternatives for data centre locations without compromising the quality of service offered.

“Indications are that construction output within the data centre sector will rise consistently from 2018 onwards, driven by steady overall construction output, but primarily by underlying factors driving greater IT and internet usage” said Hayley Thornley, Market Research Manager at AMA Research. “The commercial sector is expected to drive construction growth, while the trend towards outsourcing data centre services from both the public sector and private businesses is likely to lead to relatively modest growth in these sectors.”

Overall, the data centre construction market is forecast to grow by around 3-4% per year through to 2022.

An increasing focus on cloud-based delivery of software and platforms will continue the shift from private corporate servers to cloud-based solutions, and this, coupled with increased use of blade servers, much more significant growth of virtualisation of servers, should support the development of larger, ‘high density’ data centres. The adoption of modular design data centres is also likely to continue in coming years, with a move towards more automated, software-defined data centres likely to improve productivity and reduce costs.

The ‘Data Centre Construction Market Report – UK 2018-2022’ report is available now and can be ordered online at www.amaresearch.co.uk or by calling 01242 235724.

High performance products drive value growth in the UK building boards market

The market for building boards in the UK was estimated to be worth just over £1.1bn at manufacturers selling prices in 2017. Products included in AMA’s definition are; rigid and semi-ridged polymer boards, gypsum plasterboards and specialist building boards. The building boards market showed substantial growth between 2014 and 2016, with average annual rates of 6%, however, 2017/18 has seen some slowing of growth in construction activity leading to more modest growth in demand for building boards.

Demand for rigid polymer insulation, drylining and specialist boards is largely driven by developments in new housing, commercial newbuild and, to a lesser extent, domestic extensions, loft conversions and non-domestic refurbishment. In 2017, demand was impacted by some slowing down in housebuilding growth rates and non-residential new work, particularly in the offices sector, in large part due to the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit process that has affected the timing of business investment decisions.

As a result, volume sales of building boards have been constrained, contributing towards a slowdown in overall sales growth in 2017. However, this relatively low volume growth has been partly offset by a rise in average prices due to a shift towards higher specification drylining, thermal insulation and fire protection boards. This, in turn, is being driven by ever-tighter building regulation requirements and the need for products offering higher levels of performance with regards to fire safety and building insulation - both thermal and acoustic.

Factors driving market growth include the trend towards specifying more value-added, higher performance, products in preference to standard alternatives and the increasing use of newer methods of accelerated construction, including timber frame building and offsite modular construction, which favour the use of higher performance insulation, lining or sheathing boards.

In terms of end use applications, it is estimated that nearly half of all boards are used as permanent partitions in commercial and public access buildings, and internal walls in dwellings, with nearly a third used for the internal faces of outside walls, mostly on new dwellings. There is also a significant volume of boards supplied direct to manufacturers of offsite building systems. These include suppliers of volumetric units and closed panel timber frame and steel frame systems whereby drylining and sheathing boards are fixed at the point of manufacture.

Specialist distributors account for the largest distribution share of the building boards market, and primarily supply products direct to the trade for commercial and volume housebuilding schemes, although they also supply smaller builders’ merchants. Builders’ merchants account for the next largest market share and mainly depend on sales to the trade operating within the RMI and small building sectors. The direct sales sector also has a notable share, mainly comprising of offsite manufacturers they predominantly supply timber and light steel building systems and volumetric modular buildings.

Forecasts are for steady growth of around 3% per annum through to 2022, reflecting modest growth prospects in the construction industry. This assumption is based on indications that demand for value-added boards and accelerated construction methods will continue to increase, but that overall market growth will remain modest. However, impacts from political or economic events, particularly those relating to the UK’s departure from the EU, mean that the prospects for construction output remain clouded by uncertainty.

The Building Boards Market Report - UK 2018-2022’ report is published by AMA Research, a leading provider of market research and consultancy services with over 25 years’ experience within the construction and home improvement markets. The report is available now and can be ordered online at www.amaresearch.co.uk or by calling 01242 235724.