Civils sector feels downturn

Civils contractors are bracing themselves for a downturn in workloads over the next year as the credit crunch starts to spread into the previously healthy infrastructure market.

The latest Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) survey shows confidence is slipping among companies.

Civils specialists are also being hit by cost inflation with 53% of respondents stating that prices are rising faster than a year ago.

Workloads on the rail network have shown the greatest drop in prospects, followed by motorways and trunk roads.

CECA chairman Peter Andrews said: "It is clear that many small contractors are already suffering quite severely from a weakening of demand for site works for building developments, which is an important element of total civil engineering workload often overlooked by those who comment on our industry.

"It is also worrying that we have again found more than half of the firms taking part in our survey saying that their costs are rising faster than a year ago.

"It is difficult for contractors to recoup increases in their costs if demand for their services is slackening."