Concrete tool users need to see growth in the private commercial sector if the construction industry is to recover, an expert has said.
Nick Whitten, business editor at Construction News, explained that cuts in the public sector, which accounts for 40 per cent of building commissions, will need to be compensated for with a rise in the amount of private tenders.
A report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) recently revealed that five per cent more of its members noted a rise rather than a fall in workloads in quarter one this year - the first positive result since the first three months of 2008.
Compared with a net balance of minus 12 per cent in the last quarter of 2009, it appears the construction industry is picking up, but Mr Whitten warned that due to the scale of the sector, the figures do not necessarily indicate a recovery across the board but that certain areas of the market are improving, with housebuilding and infrastructure the strongest.
"The commercial sector has been really depressed throughout the entire recession but ... there is some slight movement there in the commercial sector on the Rics workload survey, which is really good news," he said.
With most of the positive swing occurring in London and the south-east, it could probably be attributed to the capital's appeal to foreign businesses, Mr Whitten added.
Written by Andrew Miles.
