Construction industry should prepare for slow recovery, says KPMG
Almost stagnant construction levels during September show that the sector is "caught between the jaws of private and public sector spending cuts". That's the opinion of Mike Froom, head of property and construction at KPMG in the Midlands.
His comments come after the Markit/CIPS construction PMI headline activity index fell sharply to 50.1 last month. This was down from 52.6 in August, its lowest reading since a contraction in December 2010.
Froom said: "Six months ago the mood in the industry was fairly optimistic but with new orders starting to dry up, the industry sentiment is turning gloomy.
"Underlying economic concerns are affecting growth but the government has recognised this and has put certain plans into action to kick start growth through proposed local transport and infrastructure investment."
He added the reality was that these plans wiould take "months to feed into the order books and even years into the UK economy", and said the construction industry should prepare itself for a slow recovery.
