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Tag: construction industry

Local builders still deep in recession says latest FMB survey

Local builders still deep in recession says latest FMB survey

Evidence that construction is still far from free from the grip of recession has come from the FMB, the trade body that represents many of Britain’s local builders. The survey results show a market that remained in rapid retreat during the first quarter of this year. There is some good news as the graph (right) sourced from the FMB survey shows. The level of new inquiries appears to be levelling out and this has sparked some improvement in the level…

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Joy deferred as CIPS shows construction activity grows for first time in two years

Joy deferred as CIPS shows construction activity grows for first time in two years

So the construction activity indicator produced by the buyers’ body CIPS finally points to growth after two years of measuring falling workloads. But this seemingly uplifting moment appears to have brought little joy. The March figure popped its head above the 50 no-change mark on the back of rising activity in the housing and commercial sectors. But the survey also found more and deeper job cuts within the industry and there was a drop in the confidence within firms over…

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Why construction firms must recruit financial engineers

Why construction firms must recruit financial engineers

Financial engineers – you can be forgiven for holding them in total contempt. The finger of guilt for the recession ravaging construction firms points witheringly in their direction. But, galling as it might seem, construction now needs financial engineers more than it needs civil, structural, mechanical or electrical engineers. The tools and tool-making talents of financial engineers could prove vital in thawing billions of pounds worth of frozen projects. It offers the potential to generate a vaste source of new…

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Budget figures confirm the urgent need for new sources of investment in construction

Budget figures confirm the urgent need for new sources of investment in construction

As if in compensation for all the anticipation before and excitement during the Budget announcement, we are left with the dull thud back to reality afterwards. Certainly, for construction the Budget itself changed little of substance. Alright the first-time buyer stamp duty holiday was an eye-catching cheeky move. But we all know its greatest impact will be in 20 months time when we will see a flurry of activity by those who don’t want to miss out on potentially saving…

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Comforting data ahead of the budget

Comforting data ahead of the budget

As the Chancellor Alistair Darling puts his final touches to the Budget he will be relieved by the recent spate of comforting data. Last Wednesday we had employment statistics showing that the unemployment was falling. On Thursday the figures on public finances were far healthier than expected, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimating that the level of borrowing for the financial year will come in £12 billion lower than forecast in the last Pre-Budget Report. Today we had the inflation…

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Tax, tax, tax and more tax – a rallying cry for construction

Tax, tax, tax and more tax – a rallying cry for construction

This is a rant. Why? Because I can’t help myself. I tried to hold back. I read the first three chapters of the Low Carbon Construction Innovation & Growth Team emerging findings and I am now deeply saddened. I didn’t bother with the remaining chapters, but did eyeball the recommendations. I was not saddened so much by what was said. Much I agree with, although there is within the report some seemingly lazy thinking, particularly with regards to up-skilling the industry. This…

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Half a million construction jobs to go – it looks like a dead cert

Half a million construction jobs to go – it looks like a dead cert

Construction has now lost 213,000 jobs since the recession started to kick in the autumn of 2008, according to the latest figures. That is about 10% of the workforce. That sounds like a lot and it is. But given the severity of the fall in construction workload to date it is less than you might have imagined. So far we have seen construction output fall by more than 13.4% since the peak at the second quarter of 2008. Meanwhile the…

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Growth eludes construction as economy grows –that’s how CIPS sees it

Growth eludes construction as economy grows –that’s how CIPS sees it

The latest set of figures from the buyers’ body CIPS shows that construction remains mired in recession and the general pattern painted by the numbers provides little scope for optimism. The level of incoming orders fell for the third month in a row, says the report. And this will be from a low base. It all rather poses the question: where to from here? It is perhaps ironic, given the figures, that the survey shows expectations for activity over the next…

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Prepare for a double dip in construction growth – the implication of today’s GDP figures

Prepare for a double dip in construction growth – the implication of today’s GDP figures

The UK is coming out faster from recession than we thought. But the hole was deeper. That seems to be the message from the statisticians’ latest stab at the nation’s output. The increase in fourth quarter GPD was revised upward from 0.1% to 0.3%, which will cheer many not least the Chancellor. But it seems that new data seeping into the spreadsheets of statisticians at the ONS point to the hole we were in having been bigger, with earlier growth…

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