CPA Survey shows more growth for industry

Activity rises for 11^th consecutive quarter

The Construction Product Association has published its latest Construction Trade Survey, showing that activity in the construction industry is continuing to rise.

For the 11^th consecutive quarter firms across all areas of the industry have reported growth. Private housing, commercial and infrastructure sectors have shown the greatest rises with new building activity.

 

Rebecca Larkin, Senior Economist at the CPA, commented on the survey: “It is encouraging that growth continues to be reported across the entire construction supply chain. Overall, the near-term outlook appears positive.”

While the growth is recognised, it can also be seen that Main Contractors order books are not as full as expected.

“Growth will continue to be led by work in the private housing, industrial and infrastructure sectors, but there are clearly areas that are languishing. Activity and orders were reported to be lower in public housing, which reflects the headwinds facing housing associations and local authorities amid recent policy decisions.” She continued.

The skills shortage also continues to be a blot on the report, with worries over finding skilled labour, such as bricklayers, carpenters and plasterers, leading to higher wages and concerns of delivery.

Suzannah Nichol, Chief Executive of Build UK said: “Whilst we are continuing to see growth in construction the market is very mixed and the difficulties in recruiting the right skills are causing very real concerns as labour costs rise. With an expectation of rising workloads over the coming 12 months Build UK will focus on inspiring young people and those looking for a change of career to choose construction whilst motivating the workforce to stay within the industry.”

Paul Bogle, Head of Policy and Research at the National Federation of Builders, said: “While costs and the recruitment of skilled tradesmen remain an issue, we could be seeing the start of a trend as public housing output declines. It is highly unlikely the Government will realise its aspiration of building one million homes by 2020 without a strong house building public sector. Without more widespread access to small sites for SMEs the increases in private house building numbers can not be sustained over the longer term.”

 

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