Consultant says firms can expect cost of bricks, glass and cement to continue heading north

Increasing energy costs will bring a second wave of construction materials price hikes, Arcadis has said.

It warned this will have a much wider impact on prices than raw materials shortages, saying that the cost of producing products such as bricks, glass, cement and concrete made them particularly vulnerable to hikes.

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London building prices could be up by as much as 6% by the time the year is out, Arcadis said

In its , the firm鈥檚 market intelligence lead Agnieszka Krzyzaniak said: 鈥淎lthough we can expect the upward pressure on costs to start easing in 2022, elevated inflation rates will still remain a defining feature of the market.

鈥淭he difference is that it will be mainly driven by rising energy costs and, with the energy used in manufacturing materials translating into around a quarter of total construction costs, the sector is particularly vulnerable to any prolonged price increases.鈥

It said the cost of switching removing the red diesel rebate for plant and equipment next spring will see fuel costs go up 鈥 but Krzyzaniak said firms will eventually get used to managing fuel consumption by switching to different sources such as electric and hydrogen powered machines.

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