ERA Convention 2009
2 KEYNOTE ADDRESSES
Trends in the European Construction Industry
M
ariusz Sochacki, President of Poland’s PAB-PCR&F Institute and member of the Euroconstruct forecasting group, told the Convention that the European construction industry was in for a tough time this year. The European Construction Research and Forecasting Group (Euroconstruct) was set up in 1975 by a number of specialised research institutes and consulting organisations as a study group for construction analysis and forecasting. Earlier this year the European Commission stated that the EU economy would contract by 4% over 2009, with growth increasing over 2010 as a result of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures now in place. As a result, residential building is expected to fall 15%. Indeed there has been a large decline in production already as a result of turbulence on the financial market and the rapid limitation of the mortgage loans. This has resulted in freezing of new housing being built. Non-residential work will also be affected with a drop of around 8%. Again problems can be attributed to accessing finance which has impacted the amount of investment falling 9%.
8
The only bright spot is the infrastructure sector, where 1.5% growth is expected due to finance from public sources and government support. Mariusz Sochacki, President of Poland’s PAB-PCR&F Institute