Birmingham top provincial city in latest construction survey
THE Drivers Jonas Deloitte 2012 Crane Survey, which measures and forecasts construction output for the UK’s five major cities, has identified Birmingham as the top performer, accounting for 56% of all new construction output.
Birmingham is also the only city showing an increase in new construction starts, showing 14 new starts compared with eight during the previous year.
Significant new projects include The Pallasades Shopping Centre and John Lewis store and various educational buildings at the cities three universities.
The survey, which takes place annually with data collected from July to August, monitors development activity across the office, retail, residential, student housing, education, leisure and hotel sectors.
The five UK cities included are Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and for the first time this year the survey has been published as a comparison report between those cities surveyed, highlighting strengths and weaknesses across sectors and regions.
Activity in Manchester and Leeds fell (45% and 29% respectively) and Edinburgh and Glasgow records no new starts, although ten projects have been successfully completed in the two cities. Overall, there is a 36% national decrease of activity (in comparison with the previous year).
Philippa Pickavance, head of agency at Drivers Jonas Deloitte in Birmingham, said: “The results of the crane survey are always a good measure of the development activity in a region and the increase in activity across Birmingham is reflective of the attitude of the local business and economy in driving the city forward through investment, even in tough times.
“Where other cities across the UK are seeing no new development in many sectors, with the exception of the thriving student housing sectors, Birmingham continues to move forwards with development across all sectors, albeit with the previously active residential and office sectors more muted.”
Wouter Schuitemaker, investment director at Business Birmingham – the city’s inward investment programme – said: “It is unsurprising that Birmingham’s construction output has outperformed other cities in the survey. We believe that more investment in infrastructure is taking place here than in any other UK regional city – led by schemes such as the £600m New Street Gateway project and Birmingham City University’s new £60m city centre campus.
“The establishment of Birmingham’s six economic zones will provide an even stronger impetus for new construction projects, particularly as they offer simplified planning through local development orders and a major development protocol.”
Looking ahead, the crane survey shows that student housing schemes and education projects are still likely to be the most active sectors – nationally and regionally – due to a drive by universities to attract fee paying students.
