Scottish construction output drops to £14.5bn

Output from the housing, private commercial and repair and maintenance sectors of the industry were all up year-on-year. But output from the infrastructure sector of the industry declined from a record high of £4.2 billion during 2015 to £3.1 billion in 2016.

Scottish Building Federation managing director, Vaughan Hart, said: “There has been encouragingly strong performance from the housing, private commercial and repair and maintenance sectors of the Scottish construction industry last year. Output from the housing sector rose by 16 per cent, largely driven by an increase in private housebuilding. The private commercial sector was also strong, rising 6 per cent to more than £2.6 billion, the highest it’s been since 2008. We’ve also seen good output in repair and maintenance, rising 5 per cent to more than £4.1 billion. On the other side of the equation, infrastructure output has dropped significantly and private industrial activity is at a new low, partly prompted by the removal of empty property rates relief which is a policy we have consistently campaigned against.”

Mr Hart added: “Overall, these are encouraging results which suggest that the industry is moving in the right direction in terms of achieving a balanced recovery across different sectors, hopefully with a reduced reliance on major infrastructure projects to drive future growth as other key sectors such as housing, commercial and repair and maintenance continue to show strengthening performance. We will be watching closely to see if this momentum continues into 2017. However, that is obviously very much dependent on how the wider economy performs and there is still a good deal of uncertainty about future economic prospects just now.”