Output up - but rate slows down

Construction output rose in the second quarter of 1998, making this the ninth successive quarter of positive growth. However, the pace of expansion shows signs of slowing down.

The Construction Trends Survey, published by the Construction Confederation on Monday, showed that commercial activity continues to show the most buoyant growth - a balance of 33 per cent of companies reported higher output during the second quarter.

Also showing promise were private industrial (+15 per cent) and housing repair and maintenance (+10 per cent). But civil engineering is weak, with workloads falling further in the second quarter.

National building contractors are busier - the proportion at more than 90 per cent capacity rose from 37 per cent in the first quarter of 1998 to 67 per cent in the second quarter.

Those handling infrastructure projects at a similar "nearly flat-out" capacity climbed from an equivalent figure of 2 to 27 per cent.

Alan Crane, CC chairman, said: "The regional profile shows that London's market has peaked, while the rest of the country has been pushing ahead." Companies based in the south west of England enjoyed the biggest rise in new enquiries, followed by Yorkshire and the north. However, the Midlands, Wales and Scotland were all down.

Three months ago, fewer companies were reporting skills shortages.

This trend has reversed, with skilled trades being increasingly in short supply - 83 per cent of firms said they were having difficulty securing bricklayers, 68 per cent couldn't easily find extra carpenters and 63 per cent found plasterers hard to source.