8 February 2012

The UK construction industry continued to stall during the final three months of 2011, as doubts were cast over the government’s ability to boost private funding to deliver on proposed infrastructure projects, says the latest RICS Construction Market Survey.
 
Only 14 per cent of surveyors stated they felt the government would be successful in their Autumn Statement pledge and generate sufficient institutional funding for planned infrastructure projects. There was also a healthy degree of scepticism about the Get Britain Building Fund, with only a quarter of surveyors across the UK believing that it would be positive for the sector.
 
Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist, commented:
 
‘Predictably, with workloads continuing to fall and costs slowly increasing towards the end of the year, the outlook for the construction industry remains rather downbeat with no prospect of improvement in sight.
 
‘Particularly worrying are the questions being raised over the government’s plan to secure institutional funding for infrastructure projects. We would hope that this scepticism proves to be overly pessimistic, but the responses highlight the sizable job the government still has to do in convincing industry professionals that this approach is going to deliver.’