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Construction employees feel hardest hit by recession, major study finds

Construction employees feel hardest hit by recession, major study finds

Construction workplaces suffered worse effects from the recession than any other major sector when looked at through the eyes of employees. That at least is the one of the first findings from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study, which is the sixth in a series of major workplace surveys dating back to 1980. The survey found that 72% of those employed in construction thought the recession had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of an adverse impact on their workplace….

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Optimism rises that 2013 will see more homes sold – that should mean more homes built

Optimism rises that 2013 will see more homes sold – that should mean more homes built

Estate agents are increasingly optimistic that 2013 will see housing transactions rise. That’s encouraging for their books. But if they’re right it’s good news for construction, house builders in particular. Since the late 1970s there’s been a close link between private house completions and overall housing transactions. Roughly, for every ten homes sold one home is built (corrected from first blog) . So the more existing homes are sold the more new homes are built. According to RICS’s latest monthly…

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The construction recession will be deeper – that’s the forecasters latest view

The construction recession will be deeper – that’s the forecasters latest view

The latest industry forecasts for construction activity are, as expected, much gloomier than they were as recently ago as last autumn. Both Experian and the Construction Products Association have trimmed their expectations for growth in construction output for this year and next. Experian is estimating a drop of 8.5% for last year on current data followed by a 3.5% drop this year, while CPA expects a 8.8% for 2012 with a of 2.2% for 2013. The graph (right) shows how these compare…

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Output falls as construction faces worrying time over jobs in 2013

Output falls as construction faces worrying time over jobs in 2013

The latest Office for National Statistics construction output figures fit the pattern of an industry is sharp decline. There was a brief pause for optimism last month as the October data provided a lift. But I cautioned last month about reading too much into one month’s data and, as Noble Francis at the Construction Products Associate suggests, this rise may well have been down to a delayed post-Olympic surge. Such a delayed impact is understandable, as there are lags in the output…

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Why we should be cautious about seeing the RICS survey as a signpost to growth in UK construction

Why we should be cautious about seeing the RICS survey as a signpost to growth in UK construction

The press release headline for today’s RICS construction market survey suggests the industry will turn the corner and grow in 2013. That sounds like encouraging news. Sadly, it is probably over optimistic and probably overstates the results of the survey. Sorry to burst one of the all too few happy bubbles you’ll see this year. But there’s a host of reasons to be cautious over the interpretation of the latest survey. The RICS construction survey provides a useful indication of…

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2013 kicks off with some unwelcome bad news for construction

2013 kicks off with some unwelcome bad news for construction

The sharpest drop in construction output since June 2012 is not the snippet of construction data you would want to read with a fresh new year ahead of you and optimism rising like sap in the spring. Sadly that was the first key point from the latest monthly Markit/CIPS construction survey. It is perhaps ironic that it should be the Markit/CIPS survey providing the first bad news of the year, given that historicaly it tends to be more optimistic than most…

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Latest new orders figures cast a long dark shadow over construction

Latest new orders figures cast a long dark shadow over construction

The construction new orders figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Friday suggest a truly scary year or more for the UK industry. We can find some solace in the general rule that it is unwise to take as your guide just one measure of activity in construction, given the trickiness of measuring the industry’s activity. There are much less worrisome measures of construction activity to be found. But let’s consider what conclusions we might draw if we…

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How UK construction consultants are selling themselves abroad

How UK construction consultants are selling themselves abroad

It has become noticeable of late that construction consultants seem significantly more optimistic than their fellows in UK contracting firms. Consultants may be a wee bit uneasy, but contractors it must be said seem to be wading in a slough of despond. The topic of restructuring (for which we read cutting jobs) is back on the agenda. I’ve suggested as one possible explanation for this disparity in happiness that consultants might be winning more work abroad and so partially relieving the pain of…

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