The regeneration of town centres and high streets is a hot topic in the UK. According to The Guardian, Britain’s high streets recorded 1,234 more store closures than openings in the first half of 2019. The retail industry is under extreme pressure as spending habits change to reflect a more digital world. Internet shopping is … Read more
The Northern Powerhouse is a regional grouping, of the North East, the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and North Wales. First coined by the coalition government of 2010-2015 to drive investment in skills, innovation, transport and culture in northern regions of Great Britain. Has the Northern Powerhouse initiative boosted construction activity in the region? … Read more
House price growth is slowing which could have an impact on the speed of housing construction… Reading over the latest output figures from the Office for National Statistics it appears that construction continues to perform strongly in the first quarter of 2017. The industry grew by 0.2% in Q1 compared with the final quarter of … Read more
Private housebuilding is the fastest growing sector in construction but major investment is needed to solve the housing crisis… The long-awaited housing white paper was recently released and anyone hoping for a silver bullet remedy to the “housing crisis” was to be disappointed. I am being slightly facetious when I say that, since no single … Read more
Construction continues to be robust in the wake of the various economic shocks that occurred in the second half of the year. An industry that tends to be pro-cyclical and behaves in a similar manner to the wider economy remains stoically resilient. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that, while construction … Read more
In contrast to the previous chancellor, Philip Hammond has ditched grandiose announcements and made some specific investment proposals that could make a real difference Today’s Autumn Statement was notable for its change in purpose from the previous chancellor. In recent times, the focus was on eradicating the deficit which was originally scheduled to happen in … Read more
The fall in the value of the pound is the most tangible effect of the outcome of the EU referendum If the party conference season is anything to go by, it looks like we are heading for a “hard Brexit” post-referendum, which conjures up images of watery porridge and stale toast as opposed to the … Read more
The reality is that, for now, nothing has changed in the UK economy Waiting for the Brexit effect is like waiting for the rapture. Some think it has already happened, some believe it is on its way and others think it is a fictitious phenomenon not substantiated by evidence. Whatever your viewpoint, at the moment, … Read more
The political fallout from last week’s Brexit referendum result makes economic forecasting almost impossible – we have embarked on a huge change with no clear plan and so can only be vague about our future… So it is Brexit then. A scenario most economists warned against has been voted for by the British public. I … Read more
The latest construction output release from the ONS told a familiar story of monthly declines set against longer term growth. This indicates that the industry remains in fairly good health despite the increasing number of negative headlines on construction and the UK economy, including the effects of Brexit. The industry declined by 0.3% in February … Read more
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Place of registration: Barbour ABI Limited Company number: 13427982, Registered office: 5th Floor, 133 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7BX
