Scotland’s construction sector remains cautiously optimistic. In its latest Scottish Construction Monitor, the Scottish Building Federation recorded a positive overall rating for the industry.
Scottish Building Federation managing director, Vaughan Hart, stated that “Policy areas such as procurement, planning, capital investment and skills will all have a major influence on the industry’s future.”
The Scottish Building Federation has welcomed figures which show that employment in the Scottish construction industry increased by 13,000 last year, hitting a new two-year high of 187,000 at the end of 2015.
There are currently many successful major projects underway in Scotland:
Haymarket Edinburgh development
The £200m Haymarket Edinburgh development will see the transformation of a derelict four-acre site into a new business district with a mix of high quality office, hotel and retail space. The development will also include a 165-bedroom apart-hotel, a 190-bedroom hotel and 340,000 square feet of premium ‘Grade A’ offices.
This major project is expected to create around 3,500 jobs and is one of Edinburgh’s largest commercial projects in over ten years. Interserve construction are developing the site with London-based property development and investment company Tiger Developments.
Interserve has pledged to create at least 1,000 work experience placements a year through its seven-year ‘Sustain Abilities’ action plan. They currently have over 300 graduates and apprentices on structured programmes and hope to see this figure grow over the next upcoming years.
Interserve state they have seen increased activity across Scotland in sectors including hospitality and leisure, and expected this trend to continue as the pipeline of public procurement spending grows and some major projects get underway.
Queensferry crossing
The new £1.4bn Queensferry Crossing over the Firth of Forth is Scotland’s biggest transport infrastructure project for a generation. The project is currently providing up to 1,200 jobs and a large number of subcontract and supply opportunities for Scottish companies.
Scottish contractor Morrison Construction – part of construction group Galliford Try – are constructing the bridge as part of a consortium with German company Hochtief, Spanish company Dragados and Pittsburgh, US-based American Bridge.
Galliford Try announced record full-year results to June 2015, with a 20 per cent increase in profits to £114m on revenues up 33 per cent to £2.3bn.
Morrison Construction chief operating officer, Ken Gillespie, stated that Morrison Construction was undertaking around £400m of this business in Scotland. This figure accounts for around 1,600 of the group’s 5,000 employees, which includes more than 100 graduate trainees and apprentices.
Other upcoming projects
Perthshire-based Hadden Construction saw pre-tax profits in 2015 soar 67 percent to £680,945 on revenues up almost 13 per cent to £17.7m.
Hadden business development director, Stephen Lynas, stated:
“We see opportunities for growth and have been actively hiring a range of staff to service our increasing workloads”
Current key projects include a £4.5m refurbishment and extension of Kirkliston Primary School for City of Edinburgh Council, a £2m listed building refurbishment and conversion of Eastern Primary School in Broughty Ferry into 27 apartments for Perth & Kinross Council, a range of schools and housing for West Lothian Council and the final phase of 32 homes in the Ormiston area of Dundee for Angus Housing Association.
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