Fears over construction work jobs in light of cuts proposed by the government, to help reduce the UK budget deficit were eased a little in June. Whilst some projects and schemes were cancelled or suspended, others to the tune of ?1.4 billion will go ahead providing hope for construction work jobs.
The schemes spared the chop in the latest cutbacks included various health and transport projects with the largest being ?400 million towards the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Other work will go ahead on the St Helier Hospital in Surrey at a cost of ?220 million and the redevelopment of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Middlesex, which will cost ?80 million.
The ?250m Tyne and Wear Metro was also given the go ahead along with a number of rail and road developments or repairs. The work will obviously be of great value to the English public in terms of improved services, but it will be a great relief to the construction industry in general.
That said, these projects are all English based and as such will only be of benefit to construction work jobs in this part of Britain. However, they are spread across the four corners of England helping communities and workers in several regions.
At a time of great austerity the pressure is still on the construction industry to maintain the good results of the first half of 2010. Hopefully though these announcements will show the public sector still has a role to play in the recovery.