Biggest falls are in non-housing public sector according to CPA Construction Trade Survey

Cuts to public sector spending are starting to hit construction activity according to the CPA’s latest Construction Trade Survey.

The biggest fall in activity was in non-housing public work - 50% of contractors reported falls in workload between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011. This compared to a 37% fall in work across all sectors.

The only area to see a rise in the second quarter was the private commercial sector, but the modest increase in activity failed to offset the deeper falls across all other sectors.

The outlook was more encouraging for product manufacturers operating overseas. In Q2 up to 36% of manufactures expected to see growth of over 5% over the next 12 months, due in part to the weak pound.

Noble Francis, economics director at the CPA said: “The greatest falls were seen in public non-housing such as education and health and with the public sector spending cuts already taking effect this will only exacerbate the situation.”

Francis added that the firms were being further stressed by persistently high materials price inflation.

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