1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
Construction
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
There may be worries about UK house prices being too high, but there are other factors which affect the construction of new homes, not least of which is the government drive to provide more housing.
What construction hauliers need to be concerned about is not so much a fall in property prices but a fall in property development. The two are often related, but they are not necessarily the same thing.
However, the latest construction figures do suggest developers are being cautious. The latest provisional figures from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) indicate that in the third quarter of 2007 total housing construction was worth £2.2bn, against £2.5bn in 2006. There was a similar story in construction as a whole, from £8.3ion in 2006 to £8.1bn in 2007.
Set against this is considerable anecdotal optimism from hauliers, both because of specific projects (notably the Olympics) and a general feeling that housebuilding in the UK is a long-term need which will not go away because of short-term economic caution. Peter Carter, MD of Carter Haulage of Shouldham Thorpe, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, hopes these factors will increase the amount of work available to hauliers. Carter Haulage, which operates 16 vehicles, does about 25% of its work for the construction sector.
Carter says: The Olympics project does spread work out a long way -we are getting involved with taking platform lifts and things like that to the construction sites. I think we can also look forward to slight!) better rates because there will be more demand for hauliers serving the construction industry."