To say that the covid-19 global pandemic changed our lives would be an understatement. Many peoples post pandemic life is almost unrecognisable in comparison to the life they had before our world was turned upside down by closures restrictions stress and loss. Almost every industry this felt the effect the pandemic in one way or another mostly negative while a few found benefits. One industry where you may not have expected to see is in the suspended ceilings and partitioning sector within UK business. if you take a look the figures for this sector you will see a slow but steady decline as revenues recorded in 2020 showed a fall of 16% from figures recorded in 2019.
The Influence of the Pandemic on a Previously Stable Industry
The whole the market the suspended ceilings and partitioning products within the UK has been described as methodical and usually predictable specialists like Western Industrial are well seasoned experienced operatives and as such the order book looks as it always does when it comes to the type of order. It’s the consistency and regularity of these orders that appears to have suffered.
Projects that call for these products range from office suites and retail businesses to entertainment complexes and healthcare facilities. Regardless of the purpose of the facility the timing is involved when it comes to installing partitioning and suspended ceilings remains the same. Logically these features are among the last installations to be made on any construction project and therefore they can be delayed for any number of reasons depending on any hiccups or bumps in the road the occur within the construction timeline. Evidently, the installation of products like suspended ceilings and partitions is one of great fragility and unpredictability at the best of times. Therefore, when the pandemic took hold and restrictions came in, the effects on trades specialising in final fix jobs proved to be even more random and less consistent than those on general constructions operators.
This series of events is plain to see in the statistics recorded for this sector. Over 2018 and 2019 the industry group at normal rate reaching a peak and plateau over the latter year. However plummeting numbers in the year 2020 indicate the severity of the consequences that came with the drastic restrictions put in place to protect the health of the nation. While the construction industry were among some of the first to be able to resume normal activities, the damage to the supply chain had already been done.
Picking Up Speed After the Pandemic
Like other industries, the gradual easing of restrictions and efforts to boost the sector financially eventually helped construction to get back on its feet. While keeping some health restrictions in place, work began to pick up speed and the constructions industry started it’s slow recovery back to economic health. Now, as we navigate a post-pandemic world, the landscape of construction has started to take on a new shape. While construction work uptake has been on the decline in previous years, the claustrophobia that many felt from working at an office, at home or otherwise, has actually spurred more people to look for a more active, manual, creative job like those found within the construction sector. At the same time, as workers return to the office, construction work needs to be done to create open, airy, and attractive workplaces. Therefore, it can be said that the UK suspended ceilings and partitions sector is finally experiencing growth again. Full recovery is secured, with projections for growth suggesting that the industry could boom to a value of £335 million just in the next three years. Time has proved that the construction industry is here to stay!
