Is your business prepared for the future of home improvement?
Posted on 25/10/2016
This is the question the Consumer Protection Association is asking its members and installers across the industry as a shift in how today’s homeowners live shapes the future products needed to meet their needs.
Very few new scheme planning consents are for single-use as homeowners like the sense of community offered through mixed-used developments, which can include various combinations of office, industrial, retail, leisure and residential.
Jeremy Brett, Director of the CPA, says with this new way of living comes a change in what homeowners will come to expect from new products.
He commented: “The next wave of developments needs to appeal to, and meet the needs of ‘millennials’. We’ve previously spoken about how smart, energy efficient homes are at the top of the list for millennials, but so is a sense of community and space.
“We want to start questioning – and drawing attention to – how people will be living in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time and what our members can do to ensure they remain at the front of the curve.”
Whilst the focus has traditionally been on energy rated windows, Jeremy says this is now par for the course in home improvement and that installers need to look at additional benefits that will meet future expectations – such as security and smart technology - instead of solely focusing on immediate desires.
One of these benefits is also soundproofing. The UK population is forecast to rise by 10m in the next 25 years – but the supply of new housing has already fallen well behind the numbers required to meet today’s demand, let alone that of the future.
Because of this, houses will be built closer together and expand into areas previously seen as undesirable because of noise pollution, such as airports and railroads.
“Cities are becoming more crowded, building works and the surrounding transport links to accommodate an exploding population makes for one busy, noisy place to live, which is setting up a market for noise reduction products in the near future,” Says Jeremy.
“As they say, the early bird catches the worm. We encourage installers to prepare now rather than be playing catch-up when the market really hits.”
The CPA is the UK’s leading provider of IBGs and Deposit Protection, and is recognised by consumers as one of the most trusted resources for finding accredited and vetted installers.
