Featured Region: South West

Underlying value of construction projects starting on site. (Excludes individual projects of more than £100 million and framework agreements).

After three years of decline, the value of project starts in the South West rebounded with a 20% increase during 2011. This growth was sustained last year with starts rising by a further 14%. However we are expecting the pace of growth to now moderate over the next two years.

The reduction in government budgets has affected the number of planned projects; this can be seen in both official ONS and Glenigan data. However, the impact has been more selective than in a number of other regions. For example  the health sector was a big source of growth in project starts in 2011 and remained firm last year. Last year also saw a turnaround in education project starts.

Nevertheless it has been that the private sector that has provided the main impetus for the growth in project starts over the last two years. The house market was strong in the South West last year relative to the rest of the UK and we anticipate this will support an increase in private housing starts during 2013. The flow of office and industrial project starts have also strengthened over the last year.

Looking ahead however we anticipate that further increases in private sector work will be offset by increased pressure on government funded projects and we expect the value of starts to slip back by 1% this year with modest growth projected for 2014.

The South Wests consists of the following Counties: Channel Islands, Isles of Scilly, Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire.