Featured Region: North West

The pace of decline seen in project starts in the North West in the past three years eased during 2012 and starts fell 0.5% compared to 2011 levels. This stabilisation for the region has continued, with no change in underlying starts during the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year.

The Office for National Statistics reported that construction output in the region rose by 9% during the first half of 2013, with increases in both new work and repair and maintenance. The rise in new work came from every sector other than public non-residential work, which fell by 25%.. The sharpest increase came from industrial work, up 166% on the first half of 2012. Repair, maintenance and improvement work in the region also performed better than during the first half of last year, up by 7%.

Having stabilised over the last two years, we now expect stronger performance as market conditions improve, during the final quarter of this year and further ahead during 2014. The North West consists of the following Counties: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Isle of Man.