The decline in construction is ’slowing’. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found the fall in construction workloads, now in its fourth quarter, was less steep. Though the improvement was most noticeable in non-housing and infrastructure projects, the Federation of Master Builders think that there is definite ‘deceleration’, which means we are perhaps reaching the bottom of the recession even in the housing sector. This is also supported NHBC’s latest statistics indicating the decline in UK house-building is stabilising, with this year’s first quarter bringing the first quarter-on-quarter rise in applications to start new homes in almost two years.

New research by Glenigan also reveals that the education sector is likely to help lead the industry out of the recession with underlying construction starts forecast to rebound by over 12% in 2010. This predicted spike in activity - boosted by the GBP45 billion Building Schools for the Future [BSF] programme - demonstrates that public sector investment will continue to be a prime focus for the industry over the next two years. Interbuild, the UK’s leading building show, has responded to this, announcing a major show feature within the exhibition, called Interbuild BSF. You can find out more detail about this by following the link in the Interbuild story we have highlighted below.

Incidentally, commercial vehicle manufacturer Vauxhall will be using this year’s Interbuild to invite visitors to scrap their old vehicles and claim at least GBP2,000 off the price of their new vans.

Another significant opportunity for the building industry is for renewable energy products. For example, Access Renewables reminded us this week that the Department of Energy and Climate Change has pledged an additional GBP45 million of funding into the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. The new allocation means that the scheme can continue to subsidise the cost of installing renewable energy systems such as solar, wind and heat pumps for homeowners, schools, charities and local authorities through until April 2011. Good news for companies like SmartSolar who are launching a new solar kit for homeowners, which has been developed to attract a near-maximum government grant of GBP2,400.

Finally, recent research has shown that in these tough economic times, banners on Buildingtalk are still working exceptionally well. According to Business Week, the industry average click-throughs on banner advertising is 0.04%, and so far, for 2009, Buildingtalk is achieving 1.1% on average - demonstrating how effective advertising is on Buildingtalk. We have some great banner advertising packages to help companies connect with these ‘green shoots’ of new business that we are seeing. Do be in touch by email if you want more details or you can call Nicola Angle on 020 7970 4939.
This comment was originally published in the Buildingtalk Newsletter