Constructionline growing - slowly

Exclusive by Rob Willock

Constructionline is enjoying a slow but steady increase in its membership of construction clients, consultants and contractors.

Figures released to CJ by the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) show that, in the year to June 2002, the number of client members of the government's register of qualified contractors increased by 18% to 1,432. The number of registered contractors and consultants increased by 4% to 10,501 after a spurt in the last three months.

The news will come as a relief to construction minister Brian Wilson and members of the government's construction sector unit, who have faced criticism from the industry over the limited success of the scheme and particularly its poor uptake by public sector clients.

The DTI was unable to provide the number of companies actively using Constructionline, but detailed the number of "enquiries", by which it means hits on the database. This figure peaked at 95,188 in October 2001 and has been in a steady decline since. In June 2002 there were 85,005 enquiries.

A DTI spokesman played down the fall in the number of enquiries and the relatively slow increase in contractor membership. "Enquiries go up and down - this is reflective of procurement levels at any given time. And falls in the numbers of registered contractors occur when companies are removed from the list for either of two reasons: if they don't exist anymore; or if they don't renew their subscription.

"But the most important thing from the government's point of view is the global picture, which is one of healthy growth."