Featured Region: West Midlands

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

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The West Midlands consists of the following Counties: Hereford & Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands.

The private housing sector has been a key driver for construction activity in the West Midlands, and the retrenchment by developers during 2008 and 2009 depressed the value of projects starting on site. However, the improved economy, along with better lending conditions and returning developer confidence aided a recovery in private housing in 2010. Rising house prices were accompanied by increasing project starts, as well as a substantial rise in planning approvals.

The West Midlands have also benefitted from a recovery across other private sector industries – industrial and hotel & leisure in particular – while public sector performance was more mixed. On the strength of several social housing refurbishments, social housing project starts jumped by nearly a third last year. Conversely, health and education were both flat against 2009 owing to reduced funding and the end of the BSF program.

The strength shown in the private sector over 2010 helped boost project starts 15% up on the year before. However, most of the growth took place in the first half of the year with underlying project starts shrinking by 6% over the final six months. This weakness continued into 2011. However a strong second half of the year, means that Glenigan expect an 8% increase on 2010’s level.