The construction industry appears to be ‘bumping along the bottom’ as contractors, fearful of the future, looking to further cut costs to win work, contend with still rising materials prices. Overall, prices in 2011 have been virtually flat. When able to, contractors have sought to recover increased costs but, more often than not, competition has prevented any meaningful increase in prices.

The governor of the Bank of England recently warned that the current financial crisis was “the worst since the 1930s, if not ever” and the NIESR suggests that this recovery will be the weakest of any since the end of the First World War. The construction industry is bearing its fair share of the pain — new orders in the second quarter of this year were the lowest since records began in 1964.

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