Construction has continued to suffer this year and despite projects such as Crossrail and in energy generation, the malaise is likely to carry on into the third quarter, a new report says.
Public sector construction is expected to continue to deteriorate in the face of further government cuts while private sector construction is not growing quickly enough to offset the loss, especially private commercial, the Construction Products Association said.
Its survey of first-quarter activity found 19% of large and medium size building contractors said workloads were down while orders also weakened. About one in five SME builders reported reduced workloads.
Stephen Ratcliffe, director of the UK Contractors Group, said government and local authorities could help by accelerating planned public build projects.
• A report on new housing supply from the Communities and Local Government Committee called for a massive expansion of self-build to meet the housing shortfall.
