Expect construction costs to head up despite Middle East peace deal, Currie & Brown warns

Steel, copper and aluminium prices all expected to continue rising, consultant says

Construction Materials Prices Jump 2.6% in May, Up Nearly 10% Year Over Year

Construction materials prices are rising again as copper, diesel, freight and labor costs squeeze supply chains despite resilient contractor confidence.

What Construction Experts are Warning About the Industry, and What Contractors Should Do About it

In Short: Pick your sectors and geographies deliberately. Roughly half of non-residential subcategories are forecast to grow faster than construction inflation; the other half are contracting off 2025 peaks. Get into private projects before the bid window opens. Private planning activity is up 26.2% year over year in ConstructConnect's verified pipeline, and owners are selecting GCs and subs at the design stage. By the time a public RFP posts, the relationship is often already won. Model material escalation into your bids now. Construction input costs are up 4.4% overall, but tariff-exposed materials are running far hotter: steel up 15%, aluminum up 34%, copper up 21%, diesel up 51%. AGC's chief economist says most of that hasn't hit owners yet—but it will. Hold your crews. New hires as a share of the construction workforce are at a 25-year low, and union settlements averaged 4.7% wage increases in 2025. With megaprojects competing for the same skilled trades through the decade, the cost of losing a crew now is higher than the cost of keeping one.

Trump further tweaks steel, aluminum, copper tariffs

A greater range of industrial and agricultural equipment made with the metals will temporarily face a reduced 15% levy starting June 8, per the White House.

What will surging copper demand mean for UK construction?

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems could be affected as copper’s price is hiked amid the global energy transition. Barrett Harris breaks down the numbers The post What will surging copper demand mean for UK construction? appeared first on Construction Management.

WSJ - Why Copper Is Now One of the World's Most In-Demand Metals 07062023

Copper demand has skyrocketed as the push for electrification of vehicles and energy sources continue to take over. The non-precious metal is important in the shift away from fossil fuels as it is critical for EVs, windmills, solar panels and even the entire power grid. So why aren't more companies starting new copper mines to fuel this boom in demand? WSJ explains why copper is so important to the global economy - and how a massive shortage is threatening the green-tech transition.

Undecided - Fixing Solar Panels Fatal Flaw, 21022023

The solar industry has a potentially fatal flaw: its reliance on silver. As a precious metal, silver is costly and difficult to come by, yet critical to pretty much every kind of solar panel. There is an alternative. Copper based panels have broken world efficiency records and there are some very promising prospects, but panel manufacturers are hesitant to dump silver for copper. Why?

Metallurgy Guru - Sustainability Materials Science - Kelly Lecture Cambridge University 2021: Sustainable Metals for a Circular Economy, 28062021

The presentation discusses pathways for improving the direct sustainability of metals (such as steel, aluminium and copper), in areas including reduced-carbon-dioxide primary production, recycling, scrap-compatible alloy design, contaminant-tolerance of alloys and improved alloy longevity. The lecture also discusses the effectiveness and technological readiness of individual measures, and also shows how novel structural materials enable improved energy efficiency.

MITei - "The Future of Energy Storage" webinar: Materials for energy storage, 26072022

This MITei webinar considers the critical mineral materials (such as Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Copper, Vanadium) that are required for Electrochemical energy storage (such as Lithium-Ion, Redox-Flow and Metal-Air batteries) and the increasing demand

Bloomberg Quicktake - The Myth of the Chinese Debt Trap in Africa, 18032022

Over the past two decades, China has built large infrastructure projects in almost every country in Africa, making Western powers uncomfortable amid wider concerns about Beijing’s investments across the continent. However, a deeper look shows that accusations of so-called debt trap diplomacy turn out to be unfounded.

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