Large joinery companies will “relish” the prospect of extra work from the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative, according to British Woodworking Federation (BWF) director Richard Lambert.
Mr Lambert was responding to the Chartered Institute of Building’s fears that there may not be enough construction industry capacity to take on work generated by BSF, which aims to upgrade and refurbish 180 secondary schools in 2005-06. A total of £2.2bn will be spent by 14 local education authorities in the first phase.
He said: “The joinery sector has been waiting a long time for the market to pick up the way it has and now it’s a case of the more the merrier.”
Mr Lambert said the larger joinery firms seemed to have spare capacity, though some of the medium and small size businesses might find it more difficult to take on extra workload.
He believes CIOB’s concerns are more directed at the building trade and the construction products industry as as whole, rather than the manufacturing sector.
The only cloud on the horizon, he added, was the general skills shortage across the entire construction industry – something frequently cited as a problem by BWF members.
Mr Lambert said the goverment’s spending plans would help support the construction industry through a potential downturn in the commercial and private sectors.
