UK construction output dives 6.3% and Scottish situation may be worse

Saturday 14 July 2012

CONSTRUCTION output in the UK dipped 6.3% year-on-year in May with one Scottish trade body warning the situation in Scotland could be even worse.

HARD TIMES: Work continues on the Scottish Hydro Arena in Glasgow but, in general, construction work is slowing. Picture: Mark Gibson

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Official data from the Office for National Statistics found firms failed to benefit from a May public holiday being postponed until the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June.

That added to the recent gloomy run of economic data which has raised fears Britain stayed in recession in the second quarter of this year.

Vicky Redwood, at Capital Economics, said: "In theory there should have been a boost to those numbers from the extra day, so the underlying trend is even worse than those numbers point to."Between March and May construction output fell 7.4% on the same period in 2011, with new work declining 9.9% and repair and maintenance by 2.4%. The volume of new public housing work fell 22.9%, public non-housing which doesn't include infrastructure by 21.5% and infrastructure by 21.3%.The sectors showing growth were new private commercial at 0.2% and non-housing repair and maintenance at 0.5%.Michael Levack, chief executive of the Scottish Building Federation, said: "These UK-wide figures paint a truly depressing picture, with a big collapse in overall output and eye-watering declines in new housing and infrastructure work. "Given the concentration of new construction in London and the South-East at present due to the Olympics and other projects, we can expect that the situation in Scotland may be even worse than these statistics indicate."Steve McGuckin, managing director of construction and programme management consultancy Turner & Townsend, said: "With public sector construction down around 22% on this time last year, the impact of the government's austerity cuts is clear."

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home improvement

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UK construction output dives 6.3% and Scottish situation may be worse

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