Meeting current challenges in hardscaping

No stone unturned

Nick Sharpe of Marshalls, suppliers of garden paving and driveway solutions, speaks to Greg Rhodes on how the company has been busy responding to customer demand while future-proofing itself to meet turbulent times

Landscapers have plenty to think about currently - what with ever more demanding clients searching out sustainable products and the run on materials supply.

The Landscaper wanted to discover how a major materials manufacturer and supplier was responding to sector challenges amid a perfect storm of rampant inflation, product shortfalls and longer lead-in times.

“We have invested heavily in increasing our capacity to meet demand over the past 18 months,” reports Nick Sharpe, managing director of Marshalls Domestic Landscape Products, “and are responding to the challenges of the sector and raw materials issues.”

Marshalls is further future-proofing the business by bringing on stream a dual block plant in Cambridgeshire – the first in the UK – that will add capacity and new product technology in the hard landscaping industry from the end of this year.

Materials sourcing is not all sweetness and light however, Nick concedes. “Cement, aggregates and sand currently present the biggest challenge for the industry,” he says, “primarily due to rising energy prices but also restricted by haulage capacity. “Our strategy is to work with all the major suppliers to ensure supply resilience for any short-term volume issues.” On aggregates specifically, HS2 and other major infrastructure projects are Nick Sharpe absorbing significant volumes suggests Nick and adds, “we’re benefitting from having multiple qualified sources for every material we purchase for every site to mitigate any issues.” Returning to the challenges of the delivery of materials Nick says: “Whilst haulage capacity has improved significantly in the last three months, we’ve made permanent changes to how we manage this both internally and with external suppliers to ensure availability.”

Those moves include growing its own fleet. “The majority of our landscape product deliveries are now carried out using our own vehicles,” Nick confirms.

Supply shortages and longer lead-in times can impact landscapers large and small. Covid was a kick in the teeth for many businesses and its impact is proving painfully slow to dissipate for some as other global factors come into play.

“Clearly the last few years have been a challenge,” says Nick, “particularly the earlier months of the pandemic when demand soared and supply issues first occurred.

“We understand that supply shortages and longer lead times do put pressure on landscapers and we’ve refined our processes and made many changes within the business to help with this. I think on the whole the sector understands the wider issues and the reasons behind shortages.”

Amid supply uncertainties however, fresh trends are emerging, Nick explains. “Porcelain paving has been growing in popularity over the last few years and is showing no signs of stopping. "That rise is being driven in part by the demand for low maintenance gardens as it is a much easier material to keep clean.” And more than ever before, indoor trends are reflecting on outdoor spaces.

“We’re seeing more demand for grey paving to complement grey interiors, and people are choosing porcelain as it is available in a range of trend-led finishes too.

“People seeking modern, stylish spaces are choosing to use products such as patterned porcelain as accents, step rises and edging, to give their gardens a unique and Mediterranean feel.”

Furthermore, interest is mounting in clients checking the sustainability credentials of landscape products. “This has potential to move choices to those more locally produced and from manufacturers that can demonstrate their ‘green credentials’,” says Nick.

Responding to supply difficulties, Nick points out that Marshalls has made significant strategic changes over the last year to maintain supply and manage expectation.

“For our manufactured products we’ve increased capacity in a number of sites. The dual block plant will have a huge impact on capacity for key product lines. For imported stock, we’ve been able to leverage our strong supplier relationships, but without compromising on quality or our sourcing ethics.”

Behind the scenes improvements have brought the advances, Nick adds, “from communications with customers on lead times and availability, to increasing resource in customer services teams, to ensure customers can speak to the right person easily.

“To further help customers, we also introduced a new system, which we call ATP, that gives a reliable lead time or delivery time so they can accurately plan work, as well as a delivery tracker to help on the day of delivery."

Will supply difficulties force permanent change in the landscaping marketplace and if so how will that change be manifested? Nick has positive news here too. “In the landscaping sector, demand is now more in the lines of ‘normal’ levels which, along with extra capacity, has helped to significantly improve availability.

“We have seen customers use our improved systems to check stock and deliveries and we expect this to continue; we all benefit from working together to forecast better.

“Recognising how the market and demand has changed, customers are increasingly planning further ahead for their projects to ensure that materials are on site when they need them to avoid any downtime.”

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