Construction industry buoyed by house building boom in the North

A house building boom has created major growth in the construction industry in the North it was revealed today.

Construction activity in the private housing sector grew at its fastest rate in 13 years during the past three months, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Its latest market survey also pointed to strong growth in infrastructure and private commercial work – the latter at a rate not seen since the late 1990s.

A new confidence has been created with the restoration of devolution and an expected increase in spending on improving the province’s infrastructure, coupled with ongoing investment in the hospitality sector.

Just two days ago hotelier Diljit Rana announced he was building five hotels at a cost of £50m (€74m).

During the second quarter of the year the workload of the construction industry as a whole increased at its fastest rate since mid-2004, according to the RICS.

It said 22% more of its members reported a rise in construction workloads than reported a fall and confidence in the industry’s prospects has rocketed to three times the survey’s long-running average.

More than two thirds of local chartered surveyors responding to the survey reported a rise in private housing workloads in the quarter. Some 60% reported a rise in private commercial work and 25% more reported a rise in infrastructure workloads.

RICS Northern Ireland construction spokesman, John Davidson, said: “Of all the UK regions only Scotland saw more rapid growth in construction workloads during the last quarter.

“In Northern Ireland the private housing sector was the main driver, though big increases were also reported in infrastructure and private commercial sectors – the latter enjoyed more rapid growth than at any time in the past seven years.”

Confidence in the prospects for construction were very strong, he said, with expectations of increases in both workloads and employment both very high.

Mr Davidson added: “With the establishment of the new Executive, there is an expectation that a considerable amount of infrastructure work and public works will soon come to fruition.

“It is also likely that the current high level of private housing activity will intensify in the coming months. The ongoing investment in the hospitality sector will provide a considerable boost as well.”

He revealed there were growing skills shortage, especially of quantity surveyors, and the RICS had been working with the government, educational establishments and firms to address the issue, he said.

“It is also important to look at the gender balance in the industry and to consider how more women can be recruited into the profession, in addition to looking overseas to help plug the gap,” he said.