Recent figures have suggested that the struggling construction sector might be starting to turn a corner on its road to recovery.
The data, from Deloitte, showed that there has been a steep decline in the number of building firms entering administration. In fact, there were just 241 construction and property business administrations between January and September, a 31 per cent decline on a year earlier.
Lee Manning, restructuring partner with Deloitte, commented: “Construction has clearly benefited from more activity in the housing sector as demand and prices pick up.”
Indeed, other data sets have arisen indicating that the sector is on the up. The Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index for September showed that optimism within the sector has reached its highest point since April 2010. Markit's senior economist, Tim Moore, confirmed that construction is “no longer the weakest link in the UK economy”.
Mr Manning added that the upturn for the industry has come at the cost of many of the weaker businesses within construction. He noted that there has been a “clearing out” of struggling companies, which has allowed for an “encouraging rebalancing of supply and demand”.
Construction has faced particular difficulties in the wake of the recession as cash-strapped businesses and people looking to buy residential homes found it near impossible to gain access to credit. Government initiatives, such as the Help to Buy scheme, and a general improvement in overall economic confidence appears to be finally filtering through to tackle this issue and construction firms are feeling the benefits.
Other sectors also saw a decline in administrations, with an overall drop of 16 per cent recorded by Deloitte. However, London still saw the highest number of administrations, with 316 appointments, while the North West followed closely with 272. 
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