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P ECONOMY
Page 8
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No growth in construction until 2012
A FORECAST BY the Construction Products Associatico (CPA) that output would drop by 12% in 2009 has been described as an 'underestimate' by a top construction haulier.
Mark Bennett, transport manager at WM Quinn group, says business is 50% down on a year ago, and that the firm has just laid off 15 people, including four drivers, because there wasn't enough work to keep them on.
"In the four years I've been here, we have never had to lay anybody off," he says.
"We used to operate six tippers with several more on hire, but we are struggling to keep three going. We used to work every Saturday, but now we don't do anything on Saturdays." WM Quinn is currently undertaking more work in demolition rather than construction. says Bennett, who adds that a number of contracts in the next few weeks has given him optimism that business will pick up.
"We have definitely been hoping that things would improve after Easter, but then we said that after Christmas as well," he adds.
The CPA says it does not expect growth to return to construction until 2012, with output falling next year by 3,4%.
Noble Francis, economics director at the CPA, says: 'This is the most serious downturn most of us in the industry have ever experienced."