Upturn in civil engineering workloads

Date: 17th August 2010

Small business accountants at civil engineering and construction firms have received positive news today from Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA).

The organisation's Workload Trends survey has revealed an unexpected upturn in the workloads of its members.

According to the poll, 27 per cent of its members reported greater workloads in June and July compared to the same period in 2009.

With 51 per cent reporting a drop in work, this creates a negative balance of 24 per cent.

However, this is a significant improvement on recent months with a balance of -59 per cent recorded in April and -77 per cent in January.

Alasdair Reisner, CECA head of industry affairs, welcomed the news but said that the figures only showed improvements for some sub-sectors.

"At a time when the industry is still struggling to bounce back from the recession, any improvement in contractors' workloads is welcome," he said.

"However, we need to treat this apparent upswing with caution. The results remain in negative territory with only those sub-sectors of the industry that rely on private sector clients showing any improvement."

Earlier this week it was announced that the construction industry saw growth of 8.6 per cent in the second quarter of the year.

Posted by Thomas Fletcher