Sudbury based Echo Barrier, the market leading supplier of noise reduction barriers for the construction industry across the world, have enjoyed a busy summer, and are seeing significant growth in the UK market, as it recovers from a dip in the recession.
Statistics revealed by the Markit/construction purchasing managers index (PMI) show that growth in the sector in August was broad-based, with residential housing, commercial building and civil engineering activity all seeing strong increases.
For Echo Barrier, the rail engineering sector has proved particularly buoyant, with rail companies choosing the summer months to undertake track maintenance works, and the need to reduce the noise from these sites becoming increasingly important.
Although the figures are positive, industry experts are still urging caution, as the majority of growth is coming from London and other regions of the UK are still to see a return to pre-recession figures. Experts are also starting to grow increasingly worried about the ‘sector skills shortage’ which is blighting the industry.
The construction sector lost 390,000 skilled professionals during the recession and the number of people entering the industry through apprenticeships and training is also low, resulting in a lack of skilled workers to maintain the growth the sector is currently experiencing.
Peter Wilson, Echo Barrier’s Technical Director commented: “We’re not surprised to hear that the sector has grown again in August. As a supplier to the industry we are seeing the effects of it on our business; the summer has been our busiest ever time and has resulted in us being able to open offices overseas and produce products which keep getting better. “It has been interesting to talk to our clients and hear how they are struggling to recruit, from Bricklayers to Quantity Surveyors and Architects; the people with the skills we need have left the industry and re-trained.
Estimates that we need 410,000 new recruits into the sector to enable the level of growth to continue are worrying but not surprising.” Construction output climbed to 64.0 in August from 62.4 in July, exceeding all the forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists. ENDS