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Tag: construction output

Mixed messages and some worries as payment delays in construction grow again

Mixed messages and some worries as payment delays in construction grow again

Experian’s latest figures on payment performance  for the third quarter of this year provide construction firms and their suppliers both reasons to be cheerful and reasons to be a tad wary. Both property and construction firms are delaying payments less than they were a year ago, but over the latest quarter, both sectors have become slower to pay up. Property firms on average are paying two days or so later than they were three months earlier and construction firms just a…

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Construction industry is forecast to face a second double-digit decline

Construction industry is forecast to face a second double-digit decline

Construction is heading for a very nasty tumble next year after the current spurt in workload fades. That at least is the assessment of the first major industry forecast released since the Chancellor’s spending review announcements. The construction forecast by Hewes & Associates suggests that after an unexpected 5.6% rise in construction over this year as a whole, the industry will slide sharply by 5.8% next year and 4.8% in 2012. It is worth noting that the forecast by Hewes…

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10 things that might be causing weirdness in the construction output figures

10 things that might be causing weirdness in the construction output figures

Can we accept unquestioned the construction figures presented by the latest preliminary estimate of UK economic growth? To do so is to accept that construction is enjoying workloads at a level that just three years ago were close to pushing the industry’s capacity to its limits. What’s more the rate of growth being enjoyed by construction – 14% or so over six months – is seen by many who follow the numbers as astonishing and for some incredible. But before launching…

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Construction growth continues to roar, but can you hear it?

Construction growth continues to roar, but can you hear it?

The UK economy grew twice as fast as the growth rate expected by experts, according to the latest preliminary estimate of gross domestic product. The GDP figure rose 0.8%, which is above trend growth and well above the 0.4% figure which was being touted as the average of the growth rates expected by experts. This suggests annual growth of 2.8%. A significant part of the recent growth spurt is down to the contribution that construction is thought to have had….

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It’s official – construction has never had it so good

It’s official – construction has never had it so good

Construction is booming and there was more construction work undertaken in Britain in the three months to August than in any quarter ever recorded – and that is after the statisticians revised down the figures for June and July by £400 million or so. No I am not dreaming. That is what the latest figures from the national statisticians at ONS suggest. According to the constant 2005 prices data in the latest figures there was £27,692 million of construction work…

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A 53,000 jump in construction workforce, but the jobs data make a mockery of output stats

A 53,000 jump in construction workforce, but the jobs data make a mockery of output stats

The good news is that construction found room for 53,000 more people among its workforce in the second quarter of this year as workload bounced back. The bad news is that if construction jumped in volume terms (not seasonally adjusted) by 13.3%, as the official data suggest, 53,000 is not a very impressive improvement in the employment figures at all – representing a rise of just 2.5%. So what does this all mean? Well this is yet further evidence that the…

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Infrastructure is 40% bigger than we thought it was

Infrastructure is 40% bigger than we thought it was

Construction output grew in cash terms in July, despite the expectations of many analysts that the figures would start to show a dip in the month. And, by the way, the industry is actually 3.5% bigger than we thought it was a month ago, despite contractors making about £300 million less than we thought a month ago. That is one interpretation of the main points to be extracted from output figures released today. And if you think that is odd…

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Newport: We have a problem…

Newport: We have a problem…

The construction output figures continue to provide more than a feast of food for thought, not least because they suggest a rise of 8.6% in output between the first and second quarter of this year. This is a quarterly rise on a scale not seen in construction since 1963, when the industry had to pull itself out of a standstill caused by the worst blizzards for more than 200 years. Frankly for many the figure of 8.6% is in the…

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No spring bounce in work say contractors… despite official figures showing a huge jump

No spring bounce in work say contractors… despite official figures showing a huge jump

The latest combined construction trade survey compiled by the Construction Products Association has thrown up an unexpected and confusing result showing contractors working less in the second quarter of the year. This is significantly at odds with the official data suggests. The result of the contractor survey shows 20% more firms did less work than did more in the second quarter. The ONS construction figures point to a rise of more than 6% in output in that period. This begs…

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A break in the clouds for construction’s smaller firms

A break in the clouds for construction’s smaller firms

For those looking for reasons to believe that the second quarter of this year provided some relative cheer, it may be worth taking in the surveys from the FMB, which represents local builders, and the NSCC, which represents specialists. We may not be talking about boom times, but both surveys reported a marked easing in the recessionary pressures that have dogged the smaller firms in construction for more than two years. You have to read through the data to get a…

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