“There is now a realisation that it’s going to be a hard graft in the next couple of years,” said Simon Storer, external affairs director at the Construction Products Association.
“We’ve had 13 years of growth and it’s now not looking as rosy. People have got used to growth.
“The concerns have grown quite dramatically. A few months ago there was not the negativity that there is now. The reality is coming home.”
Mr Storer said the CPA had detected some slimming down in the industry, particularly those companies supplying the private housebuilding market. “Companies who have a high representation in that sector are beginning to feel the pain.”
But he said work was still coming through other construction sectors, such as infrastructure and the Olympics.
“We want the government to continue with its capital investment regime. Projects like the Olympics have a finish date which are not negotiable.”
Mr Storer confessed concern that the slowdown in private volume housebuilding could impact affordable housing schemes, which often form part of developments through Section 106 agreements.
The CPA is pressing the government for action to stimulate the housing market, recommending measures such as reducing stamp duty and highlighting the problem of banks not passing on recent falls in the Bank of England base interest rate.
