'Pupil bulge' to help construction industry - Willmott Dixon
An expected boom in the Midlands' education sector will help keep the construction industry alive over the coming months. That's according to Peter Owen, managing director of Willmott Dixon in the Midlands. Owen told Insider the construction company had already secured 75 per cent of its 2012 target pipeline.
He said that despite the government's decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme, the West Midlands is set to receive a "pupil bulge" over the next year.
"Around the Midlands there is a massive shortage of school places," said Owen. "In Birmingham, 10,000 additional desks will be needed by 2015. Elsewhere in the region, Coventry requires a further 5,000 places, whilst across Nottinghamshire there is a 7,800 shortfall.
"It is therefore inevitable that we will see more new primary schools. In the secondary sector, the emphasis will be on refurbishment rather than new build – at least until that bulge works its way up the system."
Owen added that the higher education sector was also expected to experience an upturn in demand.
"Despite the squeeze on student finances, the demand for places continues unabated with many institutions looking to improve and expand their facilities," he said.
Owen said Willmott Dixon had benefited from an upturn in workload, and had secured its 2011 target pipeline before autumn this year. The company's 2012 target is already 75 per cent accounted for, he said.
But despite an increase in work, Owen said the construction industry as a whole continued to suffer from a skills shortage.
He said: "The construction sector has always suffered from a skills shortage at the trade-end of the market and this has continued even in the recession.
"Having said that, innovation is driving down the need for certain skills: the manufacture of products off site, new materials and simplified installation processes have diluted the need for some manual jobs.
"However, refurbishment work and smaller contracts still require a hardcore of trade skills and I worry that, as the economy improves and construction work picks up, we will have only a fraction of the hand’s-on craftsmen needed. This will result in costs being driven back up."
