Data released by the Office for National Statistics this morning shows that the UK economy has grown by 0.6% during the period of April to June. This follows on from 0.7% growth in the first quarter of the year.

Although economists have warned that growth may slow in the second half of this year, Q2 growth at this level will come as welcome news to the new Labour government.

Top of the G7

Here is the data released by the ONS this morning on X:

This puts the UK ahead of the US and the EU at the top of the G7 list of nations in terms of growth. After all the negative headlines around the economy lately, this will come as a refreshing change for businesses and consumers alike.

You’ll notice though that most of the growth came from the services sector. Manufacturing and construction posted small declines in Q2 data. This is what is going to matter more to the fenestration sector. While growth in the economy is obviously to be welcomed, and the hope is that growth will materialise as more spending power in people’s pockets, a stronger construction sector has a more direct impact on our own sector.

As we have discussed here over the past few weeks, a revitalised housing market is going to be a key driver of growth for our own sector. If the new government can solve the skills shortage, which is the true barrier to house building, then we could be looking at a significant uplift not only for construction but for the window and door sector as well.

Pre-Christmas period

It has not been plain sailing for our sector this year. In fact, the first half was pretty brutal, with a number of well-known brands and businesses failing throughout the period. Thankfully, the deluge of companies going to the wall seems to have abated for now, although speculation about who may be next has not gone away.

Right now, we are in the middle of our traditionally quiet period. The end of July and August are always quiet due to families going away for the summer holidays. This comes off the back of another quiet spell due to the election taking up the early part of summer. So it has been a bit of a baron patch for our industry of late.

That said, the end of the holiday period is about three weeks away. In previous years we have been able to time it to the day when business activity picks back up as the kids go back to school. I know that many of us will be hoping that after such a long period of malaise, this year’s pre-Christmas rush is a bumper one and it can recover some of the lost potential of the summer.

This morning’s figures may inject some additional confidence into the consumer just at the right time.

Find out more: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpfirstquarterlyestimateuk/latest

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