The effect of COVID-19 on the roofing market has been significant, with an estimated 20% decline in market value in 2020, according to the Roofing Market Report – UK 2020-2024 from AMA Research.
Since 2015, demand for roof coverings has been supported by strong growth in housebuilding and domestic repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI), along with increased output in several commercial and industrial newbuild and refurbishment markets.
Growth in the overall market for roof coverings reached around £1.1 billion in 2019. Key areas for this growth came from housing, office, schools and leisure.
However, during the ongoing pandemic, in the public sector, capital budgets have remained tight, while spending on construction in sectors, such as health and education were increasing before the pandemic.
Nevertheless, these are forecast to pick up again post-COVID, thus offering opportunities to suppliers and contractors, particularly in the flat roofing sector.
The chronic undersupply of new homes that the country has seen in recent years will ensure that the demand for new housing will continue to be high. This will inevitably raise demand for both tiles and flat roof membranes. However, the chronic shortage of roofers, and other ‘wet’ trades, could get worse following Brexit.
The ongoing shortage of skilled roofers in the industry has resulted in product developments that enable easier installation,= while requiring less skilled labour. The extent of the roofing skills shortage suggests that easier to install products, such as interlocking concrete roof tiles, will continue to grow in popularity.
Meanwhile, accelerating growth in online shopping continues to drive up demand for online distribution centres, which are typically very large structures with expansive roof areas, typically finished with single ply membranes or profiled metal sheets.
Another growth application is for waste treatment and recycling, and energy recovery facilities, which there are many in the 2021 development pipeline.
The start of 2021 still sees the UK in the holds of the pandemic, with a third lockdown currently upon the county. With the construction sector open and many of the previous implementations still in place, such as distributors and retailers remaining open, AMA Research is forecasting a slight recovery in demand for roofing products, with moderate annual increases of 4-6% thereafter. This reflects some improvement in confidence and the economy, with the market value forecast set to return to around £1 billion by 2024.
