Waldeck Welcomes Construction Industry Stimulus
News Release
21st March 2013
Fraser Mercer, Managing Director of Waldeck Engineering, has welcomed Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget saying it will help stimulate the construction industry both in the long and short term.
Plans to allocate an extra £3bn a year to infrastructure projects have received a positive response from industry leaders generally, but because the increase won’t come into effect until 2015 questions remain over the short term.
However Fraser Mercer said he thinks the measures included in the Budget to help house buyers will have a more immediate impact.
“You can’t really throw money at infrastructure in the short term because projects need time to go through planning, which can be a long drawn out process,” he explained. “Construction work on the planned HS2 rail scheme, for instance, isn’t expected to start until 2017 because of the number of different local planning authorities involved.
“The stimulus for the housing market in the form of the 'Help to Buy' scheme and a new mortgage guarantee, however, will help reinvigorate the market and in turn boost the construction sector and the wider economy in the short term.
“In future anyone wanting to buy a new-build home will be able to access an equity loan worth up to 20 per cent of the value of the property so long as they have a five per cent deposit. The Government is also going to underwrite loans from High Street lenders not only for first-time buyers but also for second-time buyers.
“The Chancellor also set out plans to build 15,000 more affordable homes and increase fivefold the funds available for building for Rent which is more welcome news for housebuilders.”
“The Chancellor has also dramatically changed the Bank of England’s remit to help stimulate the economy, which is a massive step forward, and similarly Corporation Tax is heading in the right direction. In fact, when you look at the Government’s strategies on tax generally all of a sudden the UK is looking more attractive for businesses to invest in than its European counterparts.
“When you consider that he’s got no money to play with, the fact that the growth forecast has been cut in half and what’s happening in the global economy, which is outside of our control, I think the Chancellor has generally done a good job.”
Ends
About Waldeck
- Waldeck has worked in a wide range of sectors including social, private and high-end housing, care homes, healthcare, education and student accommodation, renewable and alternative energy, sport and leisure, hotels, manufacturing, highways, rail, stadia, ports and logistics, pharmaceuticals, food processing, cold store and multi-temperature distribution, retail and commercial, MOD, conservation and historic buildings, agriculture, public sector and automotive and heavy industry.
- Its services include structural engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, low carbon consulting, sustainable design, total project solutions, Code for Sustainable Homes assessments, pre-planning and pre-acquisition, site investigation, flood risk assessments, waste mitigation, drainage design, transport planning, alternative bid design, construction supervision, BREEAM assessments, ground modelling, structural surveying, energy assessments, precast concrete, off-site manufacture and hybrid solutions.
- Waldeck has eleven offices across the UK in Lincoln, Sleaford, Nottingham, Bristol, Peterborough, Hull, Grimsby, Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Taunton. For more information please visit www.waldeck-engineering.com or follow us on Twitter @waldeck_eng
Kate Strawson
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
kate@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @KateStrawson
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