A pick-up in housebuilding helped the hard-pressed UK construction sector to bounce back last month from the harsh winter weather that led to a shutdown of building sites in March. Bad weather had a particularly heavy impact on civil engineering projects, according to the survey of more than 170 construction firms. “But the PMIs for the commercial and civil engineering sectors rose only to 51.2 and 51.5 respectively, from 46.4 and 43.6 in March. “In addition, the construction sector will be hurt by a planned 5.4% year-over-year reduction in public sector gross investment in this fiscal year. As a result, the odds of the construction sector enjoying a sustained recovery this year still look remote.”

Source: The Guardian May 02, 2018 09:52 UTC