Overall construction workloads in Scotland fell through the third quarter, but surveyors appear more positive on the outlook for workloads for the year ahead.<\/p>\n
The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey showed net balance of -9% of respondents reporting a fall in construction workloads, falling further into negative territory from the -2% that was seen in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Public sector dependent sub-sectors were the only areas to see rises in workloads. Infrastructure activity rose through the third quarter, with a net balance of 13% of respondents reporting an increase, albeit down from the net balance of 27% seen in the previous quarter. Public housing activity also increased, alongside ‘other public works’ activity, which saw a net balance of 12% reporting an increase in workloads, up from the net balance of 5% seen in the last survey.<\/p>\n
Activity across the private industrial and private commercial sectors fell – with net balances of -13% and -22% respectively – and private housebuilding also saw a decline, with a net balance of -18% reporting a fall.<\/p>\n
A net balance of 17% of Scottish respondents expects overall workloads to rise over the next year, which is up from the net balance of 10% that was seen in the second quarter survey.<\/p>\n
However, surveyors in Scotland still remain hesitant on the outlook for profit margins in the face of inflationary pressures. For the second consecutive quarter, respondents expect workloads to fall flat over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
They also continued to report shortages of skilled professionals through the third quarter, with 49% noting a shortage of quantity surveyors, 38% reporting a shortage of bricklayers, and 45% reporting a shortage of other construction professionals.<\/p>\n
Kinlay Laidlaw, director of Laidlaw Associates Building Surveying near Ayr, commented: “A lack of access to training, alongside a decline in interest in the construction industry and building surveying, is likely to contribute to the continued decline in skilled and experienced craft skills and professional skills across surveying and architecture.”<\/p>\n
Ailsa McGregor, a surveyor based in Glasgow, added: “Delays in planning and decision-making are delaying the progress of projects and affecting the supply chain.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Profit margins are expected to fall broadly flat over next year, while shortages of skilled professionals continue to be reported<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278857,"featured_media":8610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120821,128805,9],"coauthors":[137126],"class_list":["post-8835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction","category-infrastructure","category-property","tag-featured-story","tag-scotland"],"yoast_head":"\n