Construction in 'sharp slowdown'

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The construction industry is experiencing its sharpest slowdown in 12 years in Northern Ireland, it has been revealed.

Construction workloads in the last three months fell at their fastest rate since the beginning of 1996.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said this had been driven "by a near halt of work" in the private housing sector.

They said delays in planning permission caused hold-ups in public sector work.

The RICS urged the assembly executive to act, adding that firms suffering lighter workloads might feel they had no choice but to pay off skilled workers, who may then be tempted to leave Northern Ireland causing problems with public sector construction projects in the future.

Sharpest

Their Construction Market Survey for the second quarter of 2008 showed Northern Ireland was experiencing the biggest decline in construction work across the whole of the UK.

Private commercial workloads fell significantly, at their fastest rate since the start of 1995 and private industrial workloads were down by their sharpest rate since the middle of 2002.

The survey said "even public non-housing" workloads fell at their fastest pace since the latter part of 2005.

Chartered surveyors contributing to the survey said profit expectations within the construction industry fell to their lowest level in the survey's history.

John Davidson, RICS construction spokesman, said: "I would urge the executive to ensure that public sector construction work is brought forward as quickly as possible, as delays are exacerbating difficulties in the market linked to the housing sector."