ONS shows rise in public building

Figures from the new Office of National Statistics' monthly bulletin on new construction orders, reveal that orders for infrastructure totalled £8.26bn in the 12 months to November 2009, up by 54% on the £5.36bn for the corresponding period a year earlier. There was also a 9% increase in orders for building projects, excluding housing and infrastructure, to £8.08bn in the same period. This was in stark contrast to orders for private sector commercial buildings, which fell 44% from £13.37bn to £7.42bn. In the public sector it was only housing expenditure that fell. Orders worth £2.19bn were placed for public housing and housing association construction, 6% down on the previous 12 months' £2.33bn. But the fall was much gentler than the 30% drop for the private housing sector, where the value of orders totalled £5.14bn. Commenting on the figures, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said the acceleration of public spending programmes is evident in the data, while new private commercial and industrial work continues to languish. He added that the key issue for the construction sector will be whether the private sector can take up the slack "as the public sector taps are turned off in an effort to rein in the huge budget deficit".