A survey has revealed workloads in the construction industry increased across all sectors in the second quarter of 2015…
According to the latest market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), 44 per cent more surveyors reported higher activity levels in the second quarter of 2015. This was up from 37 per cent on the previous quarter.
The increase in workload is thought to be driven by office development and the private house building sectors.
The survey revealed Northern Ireland saw the slowest rate of growth during the quarter. However, 74 per cent more respondents expected to see their workloads rise, forecasting growth of 3.8 per cent.
Additionally, 51 per cent of respondents reported higher workloads in private housing, and 58 per cent in the private commercial sector. This followed a 22 per cent rise in new orders during the first quarter of the year.
The south east and the capital saw the strongest level of activity compared to elsewhere in the UK. Profit margins and employment expectations in these regions are, therefore, expected to rise higher than in other parts of the country. A total of 62 per cent more respondents expected to take on more people over the next 12 months, while 58 per cent expected to see higher profits.
A total of 58 per cent more surveyors reported difficulties with planning and regulations in the second quarter. This remains the key barrier to growth in the sector. Around 40 per cent of respondents also reported shortages of materials. However, this is an improvement on 2014, when the figure stood at around 60 per cent.
Director of the Built Environment Alan Muse said: “The upturn in workloads has led to a less competitive tendering environment, particularly across public sector projects, but a lack of accessible finance is now affecting a net balance of 58 per cent of our members and while concern over labour shortages dipped slightly, the demand for cost and project management skills rose.
“Also typical as workloads recover is the emergence of other impediments to growth, outside of labour and finance constraints, such as planning and regulatory barriers, which could be exacerbated if cuts are made to local authority planning departments as backlogs in planning applications will have a knock-on effect to work pipelines.”
The survey follows a trade survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), which showed skills shortages were undermining activity in the small to medium construction sector.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: “There can be no doubt that the building industry is booming but the skills shortage continues to loom large over our industry.
“Almost half of construction SMEs are struggling to recruit adequate numbers of bricklayers, with others finding it increasingly hard to hire carpenters and joiners, site managers and supervisors.
“Looking ahead, our members are reporting that their workloads are likely to rise over the coming three months which means the shortage of skilled workers will only become more acute.
“It also begs the question, how much stronger would the pace of growth in the UK construction industry be if we had an ample supply of skilled tradespeople.”