New-builds boost Welsh construction

RISE in new building activity from housing associations helped to boost overall construction workloads in Wales in the first quarter of this year.

- SION BARRY Business editor

The latest construction monitor from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), shows a positive net balance of 10% of surveyors in Wales reported a rise in overall construction activity, up from 3% seen in the final quarter of 2024. Public housing (which includes housing associations) continues to see the highest workloads balance, with a net balance of 50% reporting an increase, the highest this balance has been in three years.

Workloads in the private industrial subsector fell flat, and the net balances of the rest of the subsectors were all in negative territory; private housing (minus 14%), private commercial (minus 26%), infrastructure (minus 7%) and other public works (minus 5%).