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Today’s GDP figures and why I think Government remains totally wrong on construction

Today’s GDP figures and why I think Government remains totally wrong on construction

The GDP data provided the Chancellor George Osborne with solace. The 0.3% quarterly rise allowed him to suggest the figures provided evidence that the economy is healing. Had the figures shown a decline he would have been fending off a huge amount of flak. That’s politics. But the figures mean little in the grand scheme of things unless they work some magic on the animal spirits within the economy. The economy is probably rising very gently, but far too slowly…

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There may be less work in 2012, but that doesn’t mean less opportunity for smart construction firms

There may be less work in 2012, but that doesn’t mean less opportunity for smart construction firms

Expect 2012 to start with industry forecasters shading down their estimates for construction growth. But while workload is likely to decrease in 2012, that does not mean that the opportunities for smart thinking and resourceful construction firms need also shrink. I would argue that the very decline in the economy and the stresses caused open up scope for entrepreneurial thinkers with ideas for improving the built environment.

Be prepared for a very different construction industry when we rise from depression

Be prepared for a very different construction industry when we rise from depression

This is no ordinary recession. This is a serious depression, the end of which still looks to be at least a couple of years away and possibly a lot further. If that proves the case it would have lasted longer than the Great Depression of the 1930s, although the recession would not have been as quite as deep. The well respected economist and Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf recently wrote: “The UK is in the midst of what is set…

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The value of education to construction

The value of education to construction

Chatting to my good friend Martin Hewes about his latest regional forecasts he raised a point I had not really thought about that much before – the value of new orders for education work let over the past two years was twice the value for offices. In some regions the spending on education building makes the office sector look a bit like a side show. Great for those that specialise in educational building – well at least for the time being….

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