As we reflected on a year of lockdown last week, one sector has certainly built on its foundations over the past 12 months – as more Scots than ever before picked up hammers, paint brushes and measuring tapes to improve their homes and gardens.
With the majority of Scots having to stay at home either to work or on furlough, many of those pesky DIY jobs around the house, that were often put off for another time, suddenly took precedence.
Whether it was a quick touch up of paint, making your home workspace more comfortable or a full scale project turning the garden shed into a home office – many handy Scots were hooked.
It was no surprise then to see that Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, has reported both a surge in sales and profits for 2020, as a locked-down nation turned to home improvements.
The group, which operates 24 stores in Scotland and around 1,380 B&Q and Screwfix stores in total across the UK, Ireland and Europe, said sales had climbed 7.2 per cent to £12.3bn in the year to 31 January.
What’s more, Kingfisher boss Thierry Garnier said that the Covid-crisis had led to 18-34 year-olds doing more home improvements than any other age group, with 20 percent of young DIY-ers trying their hand at maintenance and decorating for the first time ever during lockdown.
It’s an interesting shift for young people and far removed from the numerous news reports that would appear over the years stating that millennials struggled with simple tasks, such as changing a lightbulb or wiring a plug.
Social media has certainly been a blessing for the DIY industry and it can take some of the credit for young people picking up a pair of pliers. You could not go a day without seeing someone on Twitter or Instagram post their latest updates on how the new garden pub was taking shape, or the latest DIY hack on TikTok showcasing the perfect colour palette for your home study hub.
As we ease out of lockdown, sales growth will likely slow for the likes of B&Q and those operating within the home improvement sector, but with this somewhat forced introduction to DIY for many of our young folk, their new found skill set and motivation to improve their homes will certainly outlast the pandemic.
According to the online tradesman directory Checkatrade, Scotland also experienced the greatest year-on-year rise in the amount spent on home improvements across the UK, with £2,936 being spent in 2020, a whopping 77 per cent increase on the average £1,661 spend per household recorded in 2019.
Access to green spaces certainly ties into this new found love of DIY too, as if we look back over the past year, spending time in our gardens and outdoor spaces was one of the few pleasures we could indulge in over the spring and summer months.
This time spent outdoors sparked a rise in garden transformation projects. We couldn’t get enough of turning our outdoor space into our very own oasis, with some horticulture businesses reporting sales that exceeded their previous busiest days by more than 50 per cent.
However unlike B&Q, which was able to operate almost all the way through lockdown, Scottish garden centres were moved from ‘essential’ services to ‘non-essential’ in the January lockdown rules.
This moving of the goal posts by the Scottish government will have caused untold stress to the 50,000 plus people that the horticulture sector supports across the country. Plus, in an industry that contributes £2.2bn directly to Scottish GDP, many will have been left wondering what will happen if lockdown continued through spring, during an all-important season for the trade.
With almost three-quarters of all bedding plants sold between March and May, I’m sure the industry’s collective sigh of relief was heard up and down the country as it was confirmed garden centres could reopen with non-essential retail from April 5.
I believe our new found passion for both DIY and our gardens will continue to bloom throughout 2021, even as the country steers out of lockdown. The past year has also certainly hammered home, for me at least, that you are never too young or old to learn a new skill, especially when it comes to DIY.
It’s clear that renewable energy is becoming increasingly important as we try to become a more sustainable and green society in a bid to meet the net zero carbon emissions target set out by the government.
Electric cars are growing in popularity, and with the sale of all cars and vans powered entirely by petrol and diesel set to be banned by 2030, it’s a purchase many of us will have to think about in the not so distant future.
For electric cars to become the norm, the infrastructure has to be in place to make this possible. People often cite the lack of charging points as a major downside when considering an electric car. So I was intrigued when I heard about the UK’s first ever tidal powered car charging point, which has just been unveiled in Shetland.
Located at Cullivoe Harbour, the charging point harnesses the power of the tide to provide charge for electric vehicles. Nova Innovation, who installed the charging point, said this shows the huge steps forward we’re making in tackling the climate emergency.
This is clearly a major milestone in the journey to becoming a more environmentally friendly country, and shows the power of innovative new thinking, which will ultimately help more people opt for an electric car in future.
I’m sure the locals will welcome the move, and I hope it’s something that can be replicated elsewhere if it proves to be a success.
I think lots more still needs to be done to make an electric car a viable and attractive option for the majority of us, but it’s certainly looking more possible now than it did a few years ago.
It Made Me Laugh
A number of old mannequins have left their modelling days behind them, instead opting for a career in road safety.
Seven dummies from the former Debenhams store in Aberdeen have been given a new lease of life, dressed as police officers and placed at the side of roads in areas looking to slow down traffic.
Councillor Geva Blackett contacted administrators about the initiative when news of Debenhams closure broke, saying she came up with the idea after Braemar’s former police mannequin went missing earlier in the year.
The dummies have been distributed across Aberdeenshire in hopes of encouraging drivers to reduce their speed. I think it’s a fantastic cause, but I have to admit, I had a good chuckle at the photos of “Bob” the mannequin in action.
It Made Me Weep
As we marked one year since the first national lockdown, I was very moved by the images of people paying homage to those who lost their lives as a result of the pandemic with a minute of silence.
One year on, many of us are now looking to the future and feeling cautiously optimistic as the vaccine rollout continues in earnest and restrictions slowly ease, but I believe it is important that we take time to remember the tragic events of the last twelve months, and pay our respects to those who have worked so hard at the front line to help others and to keep the country going through this incredibly difficult time.
I hope that while we move towards a brighter future, these people continue to be remembered.
