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Tag: commercial building

Things seem to be getting worse slower for architects and engineers

Things seem to be getting worse slower for architects and engineers

Encouraging perhaps, the latest statistics on the prospects and performance for architects and engineers seem to be of the “not so negative” variety. The December data from the Office for National Statistics’ Turnover and Orders in Production and Services Industries show what could be regarded as real growth for architectural and engineering services in 2011. Last year the sector delivered in cash terms £43.3 billion of turnover compared with £41.4 billion in 2010. This was a rise of about 4.5% and…

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Latest construction data underline tough challenge for the industry in 2012

Latest construction data underline tough challenge for the industry in 2012

The latest official statistics show construction output fell by 0.5% in the final quarter of last year. That is in line with the statisticians’ estimate put out with last month’s GDP data. This fall fits with the raft of other industry data that has shown construction work falling. And it also fits with industry forecasts that construction is set to dive into recession again for the best part a couple of years.

2012 will be a stinker for construction say forecasters

2012 will be a stinker for construction say forecasters

Construction industry forecasters are now expecting a drop in output next year of at least 5%. To put that fall in context, there have only been six worse years recorded since the data series began in 1955. And some might see the latest forecasts as potentially optimistic as they assume the Eurozone manages to muddle through its deepening crisis.

RICS construction survey adds to grim news for the industry

RICS construction survey adds to grim news for the industry

The latest construction survey from the surveyors’ body RICS adds more weight to the forecasts that the industry is tipping into recession. The figures show that while 19% of firms increased work in the third quarter of this year 20% saw workloads fall, providing a net balance of -1%. Basically that’s flat and on the RICS measure the industry has been pretty much hovering between a rise and a fall for the best part of two years since it pulled…

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Forecasters shade down expectations for construction on private sector growth fears

Forecasters shade down expectations for construction on private sector growth fears

The prospects for construction are worsening, that’s the picture painted by the latest set of main industry forecasts. Even the least pessimistic of the forecasts, from Leading Edge, at best suggests the industry now looks to be facing two years of a second dip into recession. Hewes, which remains the most pessimistic of the forecasters, finds little reason to suggest that the industry will still be plunging in 2013, while the Construction Products Association forecasters reckon the industry will not…

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Reasons to be cheerful as the official construction figures show output dropping

Reasons to be cheerful as the official construction figures show output dropping

The latest official data seem to provide yet more evidence of the decline in construction output, although the picture may not be as bleak – yet – as the published figures suggest if taken at face value. You shouldn’t really read too much into one month’s figures anyway in an industry that can be highly volatile and that is going through a particularly volatile phase. But people will and I am obliged to do it for a living. That said…

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Experian shades up its construction forecast as public investment holds up better than expected

Experian shades up its construction forecast as public investment holds up better than expected

I was wrong. Not all the construction forecasts are being revised down this time around. Experian has slightly lifted its expectations for construction growth for this year and next compared with its summer forecast. In the summer it was looking at a fall of 2.6% and 3.5% for this year and next, those expectations are now smaller falls of 2.1% and 3.3%. This is despite a lower forecast for GDP growth. Experian had revised its summer forecast quite a bit. And…

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First of autumn forecasts downgrades construction prospects

First of autumn forecasts downgrades construction prospects

Be prepared for a slower recovery than we were expecting – that’s that message from the first of autumn construction forecasts to emerge. Leading Edge had already penned in a double-dip recession for construction when it last produced a forecast in March, but now it expects the fall to be deeper and the recovery to be slower.

Worst orders figures on record suggest the worst on the ground is yet to come

Worst orders figures on record suggest the worst on the ground is yet to come

There are times when you hope you’re misreading data or that there may be an error. But it doesn’t look as though these crutches are available as I stare at the carnage implicit in the new orders data. The index, which represents a seasonally-adjusted price-adjusted measure of orders taken by contractors for new work has hit a record low. It stands at 57.5 for the second quarter of this year. Five years ago it stood at almost double that. (see…

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