Construction workloads fall 'sharply' in Q4

Thursday, 26 February 2009 10:05 AM

Construction workloads fell sharply in the final quarter of 2008, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) Construction Market Survey.

The survey, published today, found the net balance of construction workloads fell to their lowest level in the survey's history, with 47 per cent more chartered surveyors reporting a fall than a rise.

Private housing workloads remained the weakest category, with 66 per cent more surveyors reporting a fall than a rise over the period.

Rics chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said: "The pressure on the construction sector shows no signs of abating at the moment.

"Indeed, if anything it appears to be intensifying as the weakness in the housing sector spreads to both commercial and industrial workloads. With profits being squeezed, significant job cuts are likely to result.

"The danger is that this will lead to a permanent loss of skilled labour which will leave the construction sector ill-equipped to play a meaningful role when the economy does begin to emerge from the current recession."

Public sector housing fared a little better in the survey, but the latest reading of minus 20 in the net balance remains consistent with reductions in the levels of new starts.

Private commercial and industrial workloads also dropped sharply over the fourth quarter, with infrastructure remaining a little more resilient. However, workloads in this area still declined at the fastest pace in the survey's history.

Confidence in prospects for the next twelve months is also at its worst, with a record 45 per cent of chartered surveyors expecting workloads to fall rather than rise.

Almost half of those chartered surveyors surveyed expect to have to make jobs cuts over the coming period, in contrast to Q1 of 2008, where chartered surveyors were still looking to take on more staff.

Brian Berry, director of external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), said: "The Rics UK Construction Market Survey for Q4 2008 echoes the findings of the Federation of Master Builders own State of Trade survey for Q4 2008, which showed that 52 per cent of members were planning to make staff redundant over the next six months; which adds support to the Rics prediction that up to 300,000 jobs could be lost from the construction sector during this recession.

"The government needs to act now to save jobs and skills which the construction industry cannot afford to lose, particularly when the market picks up again."

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