New research shows the construction sector in the West Midlands is continuing to struggle, with workloads falling across the board.
Construction workloads remained in negative territory for the fifth consecutive quarter with 26 per cent more surveyors reporting a fall rather than a rise in overall workloads, down 19 percent from the first quarter, according to the latest RICS construction market survey.
In the West Midlands, 39 per cent reported a fall rather than a rise, down from 43 per cent the previous quarter.
However, workloads in non-housing public sector construction reached their most positive level nationally since the fourth quarter of 2007 as the increases in state spending started to filter through into new projects in education and other areas.
In the West Midlands there are some tentative signs that this extra spending is having an impact, albeit a lesser one on both public housing and infrastructure, according to RICS.
Peter Lakin, RICS West Midlands spokesperson and partner at EC Harris said: “Activity is still declining across the construction sector as a whole, but state spending is providing some much needed support for the construction industry in the short term at least with public sector works reaping the benefits.
“The improvement in new flow also appears to be filtering through to private sector housing. The underlying demand is still there as is the requirement for housing and base infrastructure. It hasn’t gone away.”
