LONDON: The SME construction sector has had three consecutive years of declining conditions and is heading into a double-dip recession as the economy weakens, according to the latest state of trade survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
42% of respondents to the FMB's Quarter Three 2010 survey revealed that public new build workloads had fallen and that a further 51% expect them to do so again in the next three months.
Richard Diment, director general of the FMB said:"The severe reduction in workloads for small construction companies working on public sector new build projects such as schools, hospitals and other infrastructure construction is a direct consequence of the Government's public sector cuts. We are now moving towards a double dip recession in construction with more than half of our members anticipating falling workloads in the public sector over the coming three months. Only 9% of our members expect things to improve."
Mr Diment added: "Our survey data shows that workloads for SMEs in all sectors of the construction industry are a long way from the kind of consistent growth that is going to create stable jobs to replace those already lost, let alone those that will be lost as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review and the VAT increase."
