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Tag: construction industry

Those house building numbers: Joy, reality then annoyance

Those house building numbers: Joy, reality then annoyance

The latest official housing figures provide a bit of a puzzle. The uplift in the actual figures doesn’t look that spectacular when you plot the graphs, so why is there so much fuss? The tale on the street is that house building is booming. Brick shortages, skills shortages, rising prices, it has to be a boom. And picked judiciously the figures are powerful. Private starts were up 29% in the third quarter compared with last year. Housing associations also started…

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Plant hire prices dip slightly despite upturn in construction

Plant hire prices dip slightly despite upturn in construction

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics for the third quarter of this year show that construction plant hire prices have not risen despite the recent upturn in construction activity and the widening view that the recovery is gathering pace. Prices remain at a level not far above the lowest for the past decade, having dipped 0.4% in the third quarter. Prices were, however, up 0.5% on the third quarter a year earlier. But this is scant consolation given…

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Six graphs showing the pain suffered by construction firms from 2008 to 2012

Six graphs showing the pain suffered by construction firms from 2008 to 2012

Recessions are gruesome and unfair things. They do not strike evenly and that is plain to see in this selection of graphs drawn from data  the provisional results of the Annual Business Survey 2012, released today. Readers should use caution and note that these are figures taken from businesses. They do not necessarily reflect the actual performance of the industries as a whole, as for instance the turnover data are not consolidated. So it will reflect, for instance, intertrading among firms…

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Sluggish rise in construction job creation, but the signs of future labour shortages increase

Sluggish rise in construction job creation, but the signs of future labour shortages increase

For all the shouts and screams about a surge in construction activity there are few signs in the latest employment figures of a surge in employment. The figures show industry employment in the third quarter up 0.7% on a year ago. But the number directly employed was actually down on a year ago. The number of self-employed however has jumped 4%. The rise in the number of self-employed may be a better sign of the growing demand for workers, as…

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Growth for construction in third quarter, but less than some surveys suggested

Growth for construction in third quarter, but less than some surveys suggested

The latest construction output data shows the industry is growing, but a little less quickly than the earlier official estimate and significantly less than some surveys suggested. According to the figures output in the third quarter rose 1.7%, compared with an earlier estimate of 2.5% provided with the GDP figures released late last month. Broadly speaking this is of no great consequence. The key point is that activity has now increased for two successive quarters and there’s growing confidence that recovery…

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Sustained output growth is just the start of a long recovery for construction

Sustained output growth is just the start of a long recovery for construction

The latest Markit/CIPS survey of construction activity came out yesterday grabbing big headlines and very possibly spectacularly misinforming the general public. The most common interpretation seems to be: “Construction grows at fastest rate for six years.” This is not surprising because it was what the Markit release actually said. I’m not saying this is bonkers, but it would surprise quite a few people if the official construction output figures record the fastest growth in six years in either the third…

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Boom time for construction? The view from Eeyore’s house

Boom time for construction? The view from Eeyore’s house

I feel for pessimists in construction at the moment. It’s really tough times for doom mongers. Every survey is running high, some touting record-breaking numbers. Meanwhile, forecasters are suggesting we are on the threshold of a phase of growth well above the long-term average. My God. It’s boom time. How can you talk that down? Well okay let me have a go. Not because I’m a pessimist (despite the rumours). Things are looking better. And I take a simple view…

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Strengthening data push construction forecasters towards greater optimism

Strengthening data push construction forecasters towards greater optimism

Construction industry forecasters have been busily upgrading their forecasts in the light of a turnaround in industry fortunes since Spring. Despite all raising their expectations for the future path of construction, at first glance the forecasts from Construction Products Association, Experian and Hewes appear to be telling very different stories. That certainly seems to be the take-away message from the graph. In some ways they are telling different tales, but in reality there’s more similarity than meets the eye. One…

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August dip of no concern as signs grow that construction is pulling out of recession

August dip of no concern as signs grow that construction is pulling out of recession

Despite the slight tick downward in the ONS seasonally adjusted construction output figure for August the signs are growing that the industry is pulling out of recession. There are many ways to measure growth, but looked at on a 12-month rolling basis output (using the non-seasonally adjusted data) seems to have bottomed out in May 2013 and we have now seen three months of improvement. This is clear from the graph, which also shows that measured on a three-monthly basis…

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Are we ignoring one of the biggest construction opportunities out there?

Are we ignoring one of the biggest construction opportunities out there?

One of the greatest challenges for the nation is to repurpose its outmoded built environment to better match the needs of a vastly changed world. It needs to adapt offices and shops to fit with the Internet age. It needs to meet the environmental challenges. It needs to improve all forms of communication. And not last and definitely not least it needs to adapt and expand its stock of housing to meet massive demographic shifts. This is a topic that…

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