IN Brief:
- Forterra is introducing concrete product surcharges and brick pricing surcharges from 1 June 2026.
- The company has cited higher diesel, transport, and natural gas costs.
- Production has also been rescheduled towards the second half of the year to manage gas-cost exposure.
Forterra is introducing surcharges on concrete products and bricks from 1 June, after further increases in diesel, transport, and natural gas costs.
The company said additional cost inflation had been driven by sharp rises in diesel, transport services, and gas. Surcharges have already been implemented on concrete products, while brick pricing surcharges are due to take effect at the start of June.
Forterra has also rescheduled some production from April into the second half of the year to manage gas-cost exposure. Around 80% of the company’s gas requirements for the remainder of the year are secured at pre-crisis pricing, which has reduced exposure to spot-market volatility but has not prevented additional pricing action.
Bricks, blocks, and concrete products sit deep inside project cost planning. They are not specialist extras that can be removed easily once designs, quantities, and procurement assumptions are set. Housing, repair and maintenance, small commercial schemes, infrastructure ancillaries, and general building activity all depend on stable supply and predictable pricing across these product lines.
Cost increases land differently depending on the contract stage. Projects still in estimating can adjust budgets, review specifications, or reprice tenders. Projects already in contract may face margin pressure, compensation-event discussions, or tension between main contractors and subcontractors whose buying assumptions were fixed before the latest surcharge.
The surcharge announcement adds another layer to the delivery pressures already facing construction. Housing demand, retrofit, remediation, and compliance-led work are all competing for capacity, while contractors continue to manage volatile input costs and cautious client budgets. That four-front delivery problem becomes harder to solve when basic materials move faster than project allowances.
Building product manufacturers are also operating under strain. Energy-intensive production cannot be switched on and off without operational consequence. Kilns, curing operations, transport fleets, stockholding, and merchant demand must all be balanced against market conditions.
When producers reschedule output, the effect can move beyond manufacturer margins. Lead times, regional availability, merchant stockholding, and tender assumptions can all be affected, particularly where demand begins to recover after a slower period.
Procurement teams will need to check exposure on brick, block, precast, and concrete product packages due to be ordered from June onwards. Quantity surveyors will also need to review whether contracts provide any route to recover input-cost changes, particularly where projects were tendered before the latest energy and transport cost increases.
Materials inflation is no longer confined to the immediate post-pandemic shock. Energy markets, transport costs, manufacturing capacity, geopolitical disruption, and demand cycles can still move individual product categories even when wider construction activity remains subdued.
Forterra’s surcharges will not affect every project equally, but they offer a clear signal that the cost base beneath construction remains unstable. The gap between policy ambition and buildable, affordable delivery will widen if core materials continue to rise faster than client budgets.
