Member Article

Construction is leading the rebuild

At something like £383 odd billion the economy has grown by at least 0.8% (or about three billion quid) in the three months to the end of September, and the boffins seem to be agreed that when they’ve got all the beans counted we’ll be closer to a whole one per cent.

And while I wouldn’t say the economy is flying just yet, what does look to be taking off is the construction sector, which in Q3 grew by a comparatively whopping 2.5%.

These are huge numbers and it can be quite easy to get caught up in all the percentage point hysteria without being able to nail things down to what’s happening in the real world. But if you want to bring some reality to the fine performance of the construction sector, put your head out of the window in London and count the cranes on the skyline.

And it’s not just construction that’s building back the economy, brick by brick. At Pimlico we might officially be in the service sector, but believe me our guys are renovating like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve been saying if for about six months, and it’s worth repeating today - customers are now acting like pre-recession consumers. And as a result of this we are doing more work, plain and simple!

If we follow the government’s measure for Q3, our three months to the end of September was up compared to April-June of this year by £130,000 (more than 3%). But if you compare the same months in 2013 (July-September) to 2012 the difference is a massive 14%, or more than half a million quid.

And if that isn’t a strong indication that real people, not politicians, treasury officials and analysts are fueling the drive out of recession I don’t know what is.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Charlie Mullins .