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Business News Wales
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Construction Workloads Boosted in First Quarter by Public Housing Activity
Construction workloads in Wales rose through the first three months of 2025 according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Construction Monitor, as a rise in public housing activity bolsters the sector. A net balance of 10% of surveyors in Wales reported a rise in overall construction activity, up from 3% seen in the final quarter of 2024. Public housing continues to see the highest workloads balance, with a net balance of 50% reporting an increase, the highest this balance has been in three years. Workloads in the private industrial subsector fell flat, and the net balances of the rest of the subsectors were all in negative territory; private housing (-14%), private commercial (-26%), infrastructure (-7%) and other public works (-5%). Surveyors in Wales remain optimistic about future workloads, with a net balance of 20% of respondents expecting an increase over the next year, up from 16% in the survey previous, and above the UK average of 17%. In saying this, profit margins are still expected to fall over the next 12-months. A net balance of -7% of surveyors in Wales anticipate that profit margins will decline. Welsh surveyors continue to report shortages in skilled workers. 60% report a shortage in quantity surveyors, down from 65% in Q4 2024, and 48% note a shortfall in other construction professionals compared to the 50% reported in the previous survey. 47% report a deficit in bricklayers which is down from 66% that was reported in the final quarter of 2024. Survey respondent John Pugh, chartered building surveyor and conservation consultant in Ruthin noted that the sector appears to be very buoyant. Jodie O'Connor of Penfro Consultancy Limited in Pembroke Dock said: 'Improved access and additional investment in training and retaining professionals across the West Wales region is essential to support the growth and development of sustainable energy projects and related infrastructure.' Commenting on the UK picture, RICS Chief Economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said: 'Construction activity was largely flat over the quarter with respondents expressing a little more caution in the face of the heightened level uncertainty both at a global and domestic level. In particular, concerns about the implementation of tariffs and what this might mean for costs and economic activity as well as the potential impact of the uplift in employer NI contributions are highlighted in the feedback. 'Significantly, aside from financial issues the most cited obstacle to activity referenced in the survey is planning and regulation which chimes neatly with the government's agenda. Addressing this issue is critical if the ambitions around housing and infrastructure are to be met. 'That said, for now the forward-looking metrics point to a relatively modest uplift in construction workloads over the next twelve months with profitability in the sector remaining under pressure.'
BBC News
03-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Fight to save Southport Pier 'will continue after funding blow'
A council leader has said she will not stop fighting for funding to fix a Victorian pier, despite being told a National Lottery Heritage grant would not be available for the project "at this time".Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson told a council meeting on Thursday that the authority had made an expression of interest to the funding body for £10m to fix Southport pier, but had been "politely" told the organisation would not be inviting the council to make an application to the fund at the pier has been closed since December 2022 due to health and safety National Lottery Heritage Fund has been approached for comment. Earlier this year, the council secured listed buildings consent for the repairs to be made to the said despite the response from the National Lottery Heritage Fund the council would "apply again when the time is right" and added the council had done "all within our power to be ready to replace the pier when the money becomes available, we have a plan. We have commitment."She said the council would continue to apply for funding and speak to interested parties and "continue to raise the profile of the pier"."Let's be clear, the bottom line is the need for money, which the council does not have," she of the Liberal Democrat opposition and former Southport MP John Pugh said the National Lottery response was a "hammer blow" to the council's ambitions to get funding for the he added the council had found £20m of its own money to help pay for the new conference centre next to the pier, £32m to buy the Strand, £8m to loan to its own housing company and £54m over the last five years to bail out its failing Children's said: "Sefton can clearly fund the repair by appropriate use of revenue and capital resources. It just does not want to do so."The BBC understands Sefton Council submitted an expression of interest to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the maximum £10m which would require development and delivery over a number of council could submit a revised expression of interest, perhaps for a smaller amount, later in the year. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
