Brickonomics

Building Britain's Future promises 45,000 new jobs building homes - That can't be right

Has anyone else prodded the sums on the 45,000 new jobs promised in the Building Britain's Future document as a result of the £1.5 billion pledged to stimulate building of 20,000 social and 10,000 private homes? I would have had...

Posted by Brian on July 6, 2009 5:51 PM

Annual construction output forecast to fall £23.5 billion over next two years

The first of the spring forecasts for construction has winged its way into my inbox. It is the Hewes & Associates' forecast. Hewes expects on the basis of current data that levels of construction output will fall back to those...

Posted by Brian on April 3, 2009 5:16 PM

Not a good time to be taking risks

What do the latest inflation figures tell us? Firstly, we are set for a heightening of the row between the quantitative easers and those leaning towards the views of the Austrian school on the matter of pumping money into a...

Posted by Brian on March 24, 2009 12:58 PM

Are the leaders of the contracting industry fit for purpose?

My attention was drawn to a letter sent yesterday by the Construction Products Association's chairman Adrian Barden to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform regarding the current plight of the construction industry. It makes hard, clear,...

Posted by Brian on March 7, 2009 8:42 AM

Construction output falls off a cliff

The last time the construction industry had to puzzle out what to do with output falling as fast as it did in the final quarter of 2008 was when the Rubik's Cube was the must-have Christmas present. Official figures published...

Posted by Brian on March 6, 2009 10:57 AM

Could buying up unsold private stock be stifling social house construction?

Is it just me, or is there a link between the deals being struck through the Government's National Clearing House to take unsold private homes into the social sector and the recent collapse in new construction orders for social house...

Posted by Brian on February 16, 2009 5:54 PM

Construction output to fall to 1996 levels by 2011, says forecast

Remember the pleasure and pain of Euro '96, the rise and rise of the Spice Girls, This Life and Chris Evan's TFI Friday on TV, John Major as Prime Minister and Swampy digging in against the road builders? Well some...

Posted by Brian on January 22, 2009 1:32 PM

Will construction win or lose from collapsing hope in the UK economy?

We are heading into the worst peacetime economic slump since the 1930s, according to the latest forecast by the highly regarded ITEM Club. This marks a massive collapse in hope for the UK economy. Just three months ago the ITEM...

Posted by Brian on January 19, 2009 10:18 AM

Most local builders are now shedding jobs as workload collapses

The latest survey of local builders by their trade body FMB paints a grim picture with workload, inquiries and employment plunging. This throws into question how focused the Government is on saving jobs in the construction industry. If saving jobs...

Posted by Brian on January 16, 2009 12:01 PM

If 2008 was bad for the housing market, 2009 looks much worse

There are plenty of scary figures in the latest forecast from the Council of Mortgage Lenders not least the expectation that half a million homeowners will fall into arrears. The expectation that 75,000 homes will be repossessed by mortgage lenders...

Posted by Brian on December 18, 2008 5:52 PM

Why record low interest rates will fail to ease house building woes

The Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates to just 2% today, the lowest in its 300 plus years, will come as a relief to some. But in reality the Bank is near powerless to influence the direction of...

Posted by Brian on December 4, 2008 1:47 PM

Construction's only salvation is for the Government to spend big

A cut in interest rates by the Bank of England at noon this Thursday is being pencilled in by most analysts and economists, the only real question appears to be how big the cut will be. This may help the...

Posted by Brian on December 2, 2008 12:14 PM

How to save 150,000 construction jobs, earn the Treasury £16 billion and create 200,000 new homes

Imagine that Chancellor Alistair Darling had decided to boost public spending by investing £20 billion of taxpayers' money over the next two years in buying land and building homes earmarked for eventual open market sale. What would be the net...

Posted by Brian on November 25, 2008 3:50 PM

Threat of more job cuts as credit crunch contagion spreads to commercial work

The recession in construction is looking increasingly desperate as the giant commercial sector appears to be heading for a nasty fall. The latest round of data will be a massive body blow to those who sought comfort in the notion...

Posted by Brian on November 4, 2008 10:26 AM

After the banks are nationalised - will we see a renaissance of public works?

One question has been twitching at the back of my brain for some weeks now. It is this: If the Government is prepared to invest "whatever it takes" to get the wheels of the "unreal" economy that is banking back...

Posted by Brian on October 8, 2008 10:12 AM

And now for the good news - Treasury set to widen the goalposts

I am not really sure why I was surprised to hear Nick Robinson on the BBC news last night confirming an FT story due to run today about the Treasury changing the borrowing rule set by Gordon Brown when he...

Posted by Brian on July 18, 2008 12:13 PM