Palmer charts rise of doors in social housing

2005 was the fifth consecutive year to see double digit growth – up 11.5 per cent to 380,000. This 2005 figure is remarkable given that government statistics show that all repair maintenance and improvement work actually declined by 1.5%. The door market has more than doubled in six years.

Composites lead with 14% growth and now hold nearly three fifths of the market. But the overall growth masks two different trends, with GRP faced products surging ahead and PVC faced products now in decline. Timber engineered doors are also growing strongly in the sector. ‘Security is an important issue in this market and the newer products such as composites and timber engineered are best suited for this’, says Palmer.

The report includes installations in both local authority and housing association properties as the social sector market. Of real interest to suppliers is that there are no signs, yet, of saturation. Continuing strong growth (up to 10% per year) is forecast for the entrance door market up to 2010.

The same cannot be said for the window market, where saturation, once just a worry for private sector home improvements, is now imminent in social housing, particularly since the replacement rate (1.5 million frames in 2005) has been so high. Over three quarters of windows in local authority properties have already been replaced.

‘We are increasingly finding large local authorities who have completed their window replacement programmes’ says Palmer, ‘so we expect this part of the market to start declining.’ And this will hardly be made up by stronger growth in the smaller housing association sector where saturation is a more distant prospect.

This anticipated slowing of the market is underscored by the decline in importance in 2006 that specifiers put on window replacements compared with other building element upgrades. It now lies in fourth position behind kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems.

Overall, in installed value terms, the market for replacement windows and entrance doors grew by 8% in 2005 to £507 million.