Scottish firms see slump in civils work

Civils work is slumping further across Scotland and on local roads contracts, according to the latest Workloads Trend survey released by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) today (Friday).

Second quarter figures for July show a 20% fall on last year for work across Scotland, but a 32% rise for England and a 26% increase for Wales. Order books north of the border were also hit hard with a 33% fall.

Work on local roads seems to be in decline despite further increases in funds from central government for improvements and maintenance. However, work on the railways is still buoyant.

Smaller firms still seem to be overshadowed by larger contractors after witnessing a slip in the progress made in January and April. This has been partly due to the Scottish situation.

However, compared to April's figures, the overall workload for civils has risen to 20% (8%) with an encouraging 41% (23%) of employed skilled operatives now working in the industry.

CECA chairman Chris Harding said: "The situation is seriously out of line with that in England and Wales. One reason is that public investment in Scotland's roads is not only not showing an increase in line with that promised for England's strategic roads, but last year there was a substantial underspend of the Scottish Executive's roads budget."