Here’s our story on the UK construction figures, from Richard Partington:Britain’s construction industry is its least optimistic for five years amid fears over Brexit and an economic slowdown, according to a survey. The gauge of sentiment among executives at 170 construction firms fell to 52.2 in December from 53.1 in November – worse than forecast by City economists – although still remained above the 50 level indicating expansion. The dip in the PMI reflected falling volumes of commercial work, offset by growing numbers of housebuilding projects. The prospect of greater workloads led firms to take on staff and buy materials at the fastest pace in two years over December. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at the consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics said support from the government “should keep housebuilding motoring along” in 2018, although warned construction output overall was likely to flatline.

Source: The Guardian January 03, 2018 07:35 UTC