Member Article

Yorkshire property and construction market on the up

Yorkshire and Humber’s industrial property sector is on the up according to the region’s industry leaders that came together for its bi-annual property forum dinner.

PwC expects output to grow nationally at six percent per year 2012 to 2015, however the North remains cautious with tentative signs of growth after 2014.

While property experts are confident they are seeing positive results in the region for industrial units, the sector is still carrying some major difficulties.

Construction has born the full brunt of declining output during the recession, due to a greater reliance on public sector work and a more significant decline in the housing market.

The region has also missed out on a lot of the larger infrastructure and public non-housing work that has been concentrated in London and the South East, particularly with the Olympics.

While public sector construction is expected to continue to shrink, there is likely to be growth in infrastructure construction in the North East which will be boosted by projects such as the long term metro upgrade in the North East, EON’s Humber Gateway and the proposed River Tees clean coal plant.

Andy Ward, senior office partner, PwC Sheffield said: “The outlook remains undoubtedly difficult with output in Yorkshire & Humberside still expected to marginally shrink by 2014. Though it does appear that a corner has been turned with a decline in construction slowing and some sectors starting to look up.

“It is a shame that industrial is such a small proportion of our overall construction output as it is currently experiencing the highest growth.

“We are seeing the market resigned to the new normal with current conditions here to stay in the near term. Strategies for all organisations to cope with these new market dynamics need to be rapidly thought through and executed.

“These may include targeting new geographies within the UK and the emerging world. Many of the key distributors in Western Europe are focusing on this approach at the moment.”

PwC hosts the Yorkshire & Humber property forum dinner every six months, which sees regional leaders in the sector come together to discuss issues and market conditions. Attendees included: Henry Boot Construction, Nabarro, Park Lane Properties and Arnold Laver.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .