UK See A Halt In Construction Industry Activity

Published: 08 February 2011

The latest market report from the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) shows that the property construction industry in the UK slowed during the last quarter of 2010.

Spending cuts by the Government and a shortfall in commercial finance contributed to the fall in construction workloads across the nation.

The construction activity varies from region to region with the South East and London region the only area to report positive activity, while all other regions saw sharp falls in workloads. Northern Ireland and Scotland recorded the largest falls in activity with net balances of -52 and -23 respectively.

Public housing and public non housing sectors suffered the greatest as a result of government budget cuts, both recording net balances of -20%. Surveyors reported that the spare capacity created by falling public sector workloads is yet to be replaced by the private sector.

The private commercial sector managed to remain in positive territory, up 9%, although this appears at the present stage to be more indicative of the sector bottoming out, rather than a sustained recovery.