Since the coalition came into power, umbrella company civil engineers have been enjoying an unexpected upswing in work.
However, this is not likely to last and experts at CECA have warned that workloads will fall once public sector spending cuts start to bite.
The water, electricity and communications sectors have provided more private work but spending on public sector projects, such as road works, remains depressed.
Although most contractors (51%) still have less work than they did this time last year, more than 25% say that their workload is rising. 45% of CECA members predict that workloads will decline over the next year, whilst a mere 14% expect to see them increase.
The CECA thinks the coalition should have taken more steps to create confidence in our infrastructure sector. The Comprehensive Spending Review in October will help to clarify public spending but while we wait the country is in a state of uncertainty which is denting the confidence of contractors. Projects such as Crossrail and the Managed Motorways programme hang in the balance and contractors are still awaiting the National Policy Statement for Transport.
The Head of Industry Affairs at the CECA, Alasdair Reisner, said that the coalition should be commended on the speed of its progress during its first 100 days. However, opportunities are still being missed. There is still no guarantee that Crossrail will go ahead and we have no idea how much funding the government will provide for the upkeep of our roads.
At the beginning of the week it was announced that second quarter growth in the construction industry was 8.6%.
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