All articles by Brian Green – Page 30
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Comment
Construction new orders: the Good the Bad and the Ugly
The latest new orders figures confirm the dire state of work in the construction pipeline.There was a drop of £6 billion in new work construction won in 2008 compared with 2007, which points to a rough road ahead.While there are some reasons for optimism within the infrastructure sector and public ...
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More than 100,000 construction workers made redundant last year
The latest employment figures provide yet more grim reading for those in construction with the numbers made redundant in the final quarter of last year rocketing to 48,000.The official figures out today show that 109,000 construction employees were made redundant over the year. Some will have got new jobs, but ...
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Trades not professionals have been hit hardest by construction job losses
I read with interest the Sunday Times story about how quantity surveyors were joining the dole queue at a faster rate than any other group in the UK economy.So I looked at the base figures and, well, came to a remarkably different interpretation.Put it this way, if the Sunday Times's ...
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RICS report stamps on signs of green shoots in the housing market
For all the excitement created by the Halifax upward blip in house prices in January it now looks increasingly like a freak result, at least that is what the latest housing market survey from the surveyors' body RICS would suggest.Yes I know it seems that for every green shoot spotted ...
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Beacons of hope in times of trouble?
There is currently much excitement being generated about the probability of construction starting on some of the much-talked of copse of towers planned to slice through the skyline of London.If that prospect smacks of confidence it is in stark contrast to the general prospects for commercial construction in London and ...
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A phrase I wish I'd coined
As I was giving the recent Rightmove consumer confidence poll a hard time last week, the Bad Science column in the Guardian kept coming to mind.So it was a bit spooky when I read the latest offering from Dr Ben Goldacre.If I was superstitious I would have read rather a ...
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Rapid rise in company failures underlines threat to construction firms
The latest insolvency figures make bleak reading and confirm the stress on construction businesses in the wake of the credit crunch.If you add up all the construction companies falling into receivership, administration or company voluntary arrangements in England and Wales in the final quarter of last year you get 226. ...
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Rightmove wrong interpretation?
Why is it that when I looked at the data presented in the press release covering the newly launched Rightmove consumer confidence survey I came to a very different interpretation from that given?I am not an expert in survey work, but I am always interested in how they are put ...
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...on the subject of gloom, here's the latest state of trade survey
The latest industry state of trade survey covering construction product manufacturers and contractors gives a reasonable view of just how rosy things are. It is put together by the Construction Products Association. I will leave you to judge.Here are a few key findings: 78% of construction product ...
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Don't look for a paradigm shift in one month's Halifax figures
Those in the housing industry will be mightily relieved by the Halifax figures released today.Seasonally adjusted the rise in the price of an average house was put at 1.9%. Unadjusted the rise was a less spectacular 0.9% with about £1,300 added to the average house price.However shortlived this upward blip ...
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Lack of grit and the economic crisis
Why is it understandable in the current British economy that councils are running out of grit? That was the thought that came to mind as I walking to work this morning.For me it was an enjoyable walk as the fresh snow creaked under my boots and I had the extra ...
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We see rays of sunshine amid the gloom, construction buyers tell survey
You have got to admire the spirit, we are on the verge of the deepest recession most in the industry have witnessed and yet there are those in the construction who feel the worst may be passed.That seems to be what the latest construction market survey by the buyers' body ...
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Cold snap may prompt early collapse of weakened construction firms, says CEBR
It is good to see that the chill wind hasn't frozen the work produced by the economists at the consultancy CEBR.Here is one piece of cogitation that caught my eye.CEBR's chief economist Douglas McWilliams has done a "quick back of the envelope calculation" that suggests an additional two to three ...
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Economists mark 2009 for the biggest fall in house prices
If you bought a house in 2003 or afterwards there is a fair change that by 2013 it will be worth just the same or less than as you paid for it.That is the grimmest view taken by the forecasters at the economic consultant CEBR.However, looking at the most optimistic ...
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Is the worst of the house price crash yet to come?
New Year, new figures from Nationwide showing a new fall in house prices.No surprise there then.But the next few months may prove critical to the final shape of our current house price crash.Will we see a more gentle continuation in the slide in prices or should we brace ourselves for ...
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Official figures suggest construction is faring better than most - really?
The appalling GDP figures released today suggest construction has got off relatively lightly so far - odd don't you think?The economy took its biggest nosedive since mid 1980 in the final quarter of last year, a drop of 1.5%.But surprisingly construction was less impacted than most sectors and the economy ...
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NHBC figures show new home starts down 47% in 2008
The number of NHBC registrations to start building new homes fell to 106,894 in 2008, a drop of 47% on a year earlier.But it is the comparison of the final quarter of 2008 with that of 2007 that brings the true scale of the trauma in the house building market ...
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Construction output to fall to 1996 levels by 2011, says forecast
Remember the pleasure and pain of Euro '96, the rise and rise of the Spice Girls, This Life and Chris Evan's TFI Friday on TV, John Major as Prime Minister and Swampy digging in against the road builders?Well some of it came flooding back to me when I realised that ...
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Mortgage lending at 2001 level spells more bad news for home sales
Mortgage lending last year was down about 30% on the 2007 figures and in the final quarter was running at well below half the peak level, according to the latest figures from Council of Mortgage Lenders.CML expects the level of lending to drop further in coming months, which may well ...
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Construction job vacancies collapse
Record redundancies may be the headline in today's news bulletins and tomorrow's papers as the ranks of the unemployed creep towards 2 million.But in the detail of today's labour market figures of more concern to the thousands of redundant construction workers now looking for new jobs is that vacancies are ...