Welsh construction is predicted to keep on improving according to news reports this week. ITV Wales picked up on RICS findings indicating that Welsh construction is firmly in growth mode, with private house building driving the ongoing upward trend in activity. Apparently more surveyors here are reporting increasing workloads compared to anywhere else in the UK, where private housing workloads rose at their slowest pace since 2013.

ITV seems to agree with CEW. They report that Welsh construction surveyors remain upbeat: balances for workloads, employment and profit margins remain robust. Then in other media there was the news that the CITB is seeking to raise 17,500 jobs between 2019 -2020 in Wales to keep pace with the predicted annual growth rate of 7.1%, compared to the rest of the UK construction industry which is a much lesser increase of 2.5% between 2016-2020. The employment in the construction sector is going to apparently hit its peak in 2018 which is going to be 5% more than the peak in 2008.

So, what is it that is going to power these boosts in the Welsh construction? We already know there are plans for major infrastructure projects across the Welsh region such as the new nuclear power station at Wylfa. Then yesterday, we saw the announcement that Welsh Water is looking to sign up a host of contractors to deliver a £330m programme of emergency and planned pressurised pipeline work over seven years. Separate panels of firms will be picked to operate in North Wales, South East Wales and South West Wales, sharing an annual forecast spend of around £47m. Each region will be broken down into three further lots based on the complexity of the project with three firms being selected for each lot. Initially the framework will run for four years, with a possible three-year extension bringing total spend to £330m.

It’s good news but we have to be ready and we have to stick to the principles of best practice.