UK architectural and engineering services businesses are now turning over more in cash terms than they were at the peak of late 2008. That at least is what the latest Turnover and Orders in Production and Services Industries data from the Office for National Statistics suggests.
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…
The cash brought in by UK based architects and engineers last year dropped by a further 2%, according to the latest official figures on manufacturing and services turnover. This puts turnover down about 8% in cash terms since the peak of 2008. Sadly this data series does not split the work on the basis of domestically generated and overseas generated work. But data from the pink book does suggest that exports account for about 10% of turnover. Given that architectural…
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…
It’s coming around to the construction forecasting season again and the industry prognosticators will be gathering to discuss the ups and downs of the industry. If I were you, I’d be bracing myself for some pretty savage revisions to what already look like pretty savage forecasts. Peak to trough in the 90’s recession we saw a drop in volume terms of 14% in workload. In the 1980s recession it was 16% and in the 1970s it was 20%, according to…
The latest survey from the civils trade body CECA into the performance and prospects of its members very much reflects the pressures on the building sector, where housing and commercial building work is being squeezed by the effects of the credit crunch. While the outlook for civils is broadly positive, there is little chance that the civils sector will remain immune to the travails in the building sector, as a huge slice of work comes from preliminary works for development.