Rise of the city region good news for construction industry, says Director
Posted on 13/07/2017
An emerging enclave of fast-developing city regions outside of London is good news for the construction industry according to the Managing Director of a pre-cast concrete company.
Eamonn O’Donnell, who is the MD of SCC Design Build, says that political changes to establish city regions which have an all-powerful Metro Mayor have the potential to provide a boost to the construction industry.
He also says that the changes are helping to put cities such as Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham on the map and could see more inward investment into these areas.
Eamonn comments: “I have thought for a long-time that with interest rates so low, the last few years were the perfect time to invest in major infrastructure projects to create jobs and boost construction outside of London. It hasn’t quite happened but what has been good is the creation of city regions, which have more devolved powers.
“Hopefully this will mean more money spent in the regions and quicker decision making for big infrastructure projects. London, of course, remains the nerve centre of the UK but in the last few years we have noticed more investment and movement outside of the capital.”
He also says that big ticket items such as HS2 will be good for the industry and wealth creation in the UK.
HS2 is a £50 billion high-speed railway connecting London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.
Supporters of HS2 say the project will create better connections between the big cities of the North and Midlands and make sure our economy shares growth between the North and South.
A report by KPMG says the new rail project could boost the UK economy by £15bn a year and will create 22,000 construction jobs in the next five years.