Chairman’s End of Year Message

The UK composites industry ends the year in a very strong position. As we look towards the end of 2023, it’s worth reflecting on what we have achieved. The UK composites industry is now worth £12.3bn to the UK economy (a 14% increase over a year ago) and employs 48,200 employees. This is a significant improvement from a year ago and should encourage our members to grow further in 2024.

2023 saw ground-breaking events that CUK were able to provide the industry.

  • CUK took over the running of the JEC UK pavilion
  • We held our first Parliamentary Reception
  • ICS moved to our new home at Milton Keynes and improved the attendance figures by 100%
  • Improved our political profile by meeting with the Shadow Minister for Industry and Decarbonisation

In 2024, as well as enhancing all of the above events, we will partner with the Northwest Aerospace Alliance to provide a Composites UK pavilion. This is going to be an unmissable event so book your place early.

Composites UK will also take the lead on 2 major projects in 2024. We will be championing our cause for the Royce Institutes leadership of the UK material strategy and we will lead the development of an export controls strategy that works for our members and the composites industry as a whole.

As we look forward to the holidays, everyone at Composites UK would like to thank our members for your continued support and loyalty and look forward to a very prosperous new year – remembering there is no net-zero without composites!

Prof. Alan Banks,
Chairman, Composites UK