CJ Construction Blog

When it boils down to it, hard-pressed contractors wanted to see the government hand out more work and force banks to ease credit and loan terms.

In these blunt terms, the government delivered much of what was promised in the run-up to the pre-Budget report.

Over the next six months, maintaining cashflow is easily the biggest challenge facing small and medium-sized contractors. So fresh measures to offer small business loans, defer tax payments and force penny-pinching banks to responsibly support struggling contractors deserve praise.

Alistair Darling's extra £3bn to fast-track school, hospital and highways building is hugely welcome, but needs to be pored over before anyone cheerfully rewrites their business plan for next year.

The acid test will be whether the new projects can be delivered at a sprint rather than the faltering pace to which construction is accustomed. In this area, local education partnerships and frameworks offer a golden opportunity to clear the hurdles where previous spending plans stumbled. Framework contractors and local firms are waiting
with baited-breath - they just need to hear the starting pistol.

That said, it is hard to avoid a nagging feeling that a big opportunity was missed. Gordon Brown came to power promising to build more homes. With labour and materials costs sliding, there is no better time to do it.

Much was done to protect struggling homeowners, but releasing cash to build an extra 2,000 rented homes falls short of the mark, given 100,000 fewer houses will be built this year. That blemishes an otherwise bold effort to kick-start a recovery.