Construction sector faces no recovery for two years
CONSTRUCTION industry experts yesterday said they do not expect any recovery in the sector’s fortunes until 2011 following the sharpest decline in output on record.
Despite some encouraging signs that the wider economy is creeping out of a recession, the construction output is expected to fall by 15 per cent this year, and a further two per cent decline in 2010, according to the Construction Products Association (CPA). The CPA said that due to a number of halted City office projects during the downturn by 2010 the commercial construction sector is expected to be less than half the size it was just two years earlier.
The industry is currently cushioned by government spending on infrastructure and public investment in schools and hospital but the widely trailed cut-back on public spending means the construction sector could be further squeezed.