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The Global Infrastructure Investment Index, published by Arcadis today, ranks 41 countries by their attractiveness to investors in infrastructure.
Since the first index in 2012, the UK has risen three places (see table, attached) up to 10th and is the third-highest ranked European country in the Index, after Sweden (5th) and Norway (6th).
In order to gauge each nation’s appeal, the study looked at criteria including the ease of doing business in each market, government policy, tax rates, the quality of the existing infrastructure, GDP per capita and the availability of debt finance.
The UK managed to break into the top 10 following improvements across all of these business indicators, while Arcadis also found that an improved financial and taxation environment has increased its appeal to investors.
Optimism has returned to infrastructure investment in the UK, with the government planning to increase capital spending by £3bn per annum from 2015, which will lead to an additional £18bn of investment by the end of the next parliament.
Arcadis UK head of infrastructure Steve Bromhead told Construction News: “The government needs to provide long-term clarity over infrastructure policy and look at the over-prescriptive nature of regulation in several key sectors.
“We will see investment from all over – particularly China, the Middle East, and the US – but the government needs a clear policy on infrastructure.
“It does not matter whether it is the current policy or Sir John Armitt’s alternative proposal, for example; the most important issue here is consistency and clarity to provide security for infrastructure investment
“Otherwise we risk experiencing a stasis in infrastructure investment and .economic growth due to lack of investor confidence.”

Over half (54%) of Brits have admitted answering work calls while in bed according to a new survey.

The survey from professional call answering service, alldayPA found that UK staff even struggle to switch off on Holiday with 41% of those surveyed answering business calls while on a break and 40% breaking up a trip to the pub to take a work call.

Almost a quarter revealed they were capable of handling more than one piece of business at a time as 24% claimed to have taken a call while on the toilet while three percent had taken a call while on a rollercoaster.

Men were the most likely to pick up a call while in bed with 40% saying they have done so compared to 27% of women.

Reflecting on the survey results, Gareth Jeffery, operations manager at alldayPA says, “We know that technology means we can be connected to work 24/7 but none of us expect employees to start taking calls on roller coasters!

“It’s clear to see from this survey that employees are embracing technology to get on top of their jobs but, looking at the results, there has to be a concern over the quality of work being completed over the phone when so many people are taking calls in the middle of social activities.”

London was the only region in the UK where the construction industry grew during the recession according to the Chartered Institute of Building
The report, “The Real Face of Construction”, said construction output in the capital grew more than 20 per cent in cash terms between 2007 and 2013 and made up more than 20 per cent of the British construction industry by the end of the period. London was the only region to grow in that time once inflation was taken into account.
The report also highlights an alternative way of measuring the size of the industry, developed by Dr Stephen Gruneberg at Westminster, which would put it at 15.3 per cent of the economy – £250bn – rather than the 6.3 per cent gross value added attributed to it in official statistics.
The official construction GVA figure just counts work done on site and does not include other inputs into construction, such as the work of consultancy and design, real estate activities plant rental and manufacture of building material, which are included in the figures for other industries in order to avoid double counting.
The report accompanies a guide for MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates on the importance of construction to the economy.
Chris Blythe, chief executive of the CIOB, said: “Construction is often simplistically viewed in terms of employment statistics and visible work on building sites, but this overlooks the increasingly high-tech nature of an industry that is leading on innovation and contributing directly to national productivity.
“The quality of our buildings has a lasting impact on the wellbeing of individuals and communities across all regions and sectors.
“Much political and media attention focuses on house building and, while this is an extremely important issue, it actually accounts for a minority of total UK construction output. We would like to see discussions become integrated into a much wider agenda. The decisions made today will be felt for decades and generations.”

Plans for Crossrail 2 have stated to take shape and procurement could start as early as 2018.
Transport for London has launched a second consultation for a ‘regional option’ of its proposed Crossrail 2 mega scheme.
A new station in Chelsea, stops at Hackney or Dalston Junction and an extension from Alexandra Palace to New Southgate are all now possible scenarios for the ambitious scheme, the core of which is a tunnel from Wimbledon in the south-west to Tottenham in the north-east.
The new announcement follows last summer’s consultation, in which TfL asked for feedback on two options: a metro route and the regional route, the latter of which has now been adopted following overwhelming support (96 per cent) from around 14,000 respondents.
As part of that consultation, various options to link to existing Network Rail stations in the Home Counties and to Cheshunt and Alexandra Palace in the north were also mapped out.
London mayor Boris Johnson said the newly revised plans mean Crossrail 2 could be up and running by 2029, up to four years ahead of schedule.

With the UK unemployment rate dropping quickly to 7.1%, in the three months to November 2013, there is a strong case for optimism in the jobs market. Roughly 30.15 million people are now in work, an increase of 280,000 in the last quarter – the biggest increase since records began in the 1970s.
As we went to press, however, this month’s figures put the rate at 7.2%. This is likely to be a blip showing nothing more than that the pace at which unemployment is falling has slowed. Take heart that overall, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says jobs vacancies have risen by 75,000 since 2012 and analysts say the general trend is that the jobs market is looking rosier.
What is significant?
The number of people out of work fell by 167,000 to 2.32 million, according to the ONS. This is the biggest quarterly drop in unemployment since the autumn of 1997 and is evidence, according to Chancellor George Osborne, that the economic plan is working.
To break the statistic down further, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 24,000 to 1.25 million in December and the number of people in part-time work because they couldn’t find full-time jobs dropped by 12,000 to 1.4 million.
Youth unemployment is still a concern, but at least it’s going in the right direction, with the number of 16-24 year old out of work decreasing by 39,000 from the previous three-month period to 920,000.
According to ONS figures, the house sales industry has reported the biggest percentage increase in job vacancies, though this represents just 3,000 actual jobs up on December 2012. In fact, it’s the motor trades sector that has seen the greatest increase in job vacancies, up by 18,000 from last year. Construction, healthcare and public administration have also contributed to the total increase in jobs vacancies of 75,000 since 2012.

Other patterns in the jobs market
As of the last quarter of 2013, some 4.3 million workers in the UK are officially self-employed, an impressive increase of 573,000 workers since the recession of 2008-09, equivalent to a rise of 15%. It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating.
Professional HR body, the CIPD, estimates that this rise in self-employment has compensated for about 40% of job-losses during recession. It is likely that without this trend, unemployment would have reached three million. And women, who represent more than half of the self-employment growth since recession, would have been particularly vulnerable.
A Home Office study also shows that the number of British workers in low-skilled jobs is now rising at a faster rate than the employment levels of foreign nationals in similar roles, reversing a 10-year trend. The report says Brits have accounted for 92% of the total rise in employment in the 12 months to September 2013.

Wages
Unemployment might be improving surprisingly fast, but wages have not been. The ONS reports that average earnings increased by 0.9% in the year to November, unchanged from the previous month. Labour leader Ed Miliband has argued that average wages are £1,600 a year lower than they were in 2010.

Intersect Global is a specialist technical recruitment company with particular expertise in the construction and infrastructure sectors.
As part of our on going expansion plans we are seeking to appoint a Recruitment Consultant to join our existing team in Central London.

The technical construction sector is an extremely lucrative market to operate in, the demand for white-collar professionals is high and Intersect Global are in an enviable position of being preferred suppliers to many of the leading contractors and consultancies in London and the South East.

What is on offer?

We are seeking the top performing recruitment consultants in the industry, people who are genuinely passionate about their careers.
Our company culture differs from most of our competitors, we offer an above average and transparent commission structure, we offer flexible working conditions and generous holiday allowances.
We are also offering the opportunity to achieve equity shares to employees who help us grow the company and achieve our goals.

The Role

This is a varied role, which offers a great deal of autonomy.
Day to day duties will include :
Identifying new business opportunities
Sourcing and pre-screening candidates
Interviewing candidates
Meeting clients
Writing copy for and posting adverts on industry websites
Networking to expand candidate and client base
Building excellent sustainable client and candidate relationships
Managing client and candidate expectations throughout the recruitment process
Managing mentoring and training other members of the team.

Experience Required
We are keen to hear from recruitment consultants with no less that two years recruitment experience, ideally gained within the construction sector although we are open to candidates from other sectors of the industry.
You will ideally be educated to Degree level and live within easy commuting distance to Central London.
Most importantly we are seeking hard working, positive enthusiastic consultants that want to work in an environment where you will be supported and encouraged to reach to full potential.

Happy New Year from Intersect Global, we hope that you enjoyed the Christmas break and are recharged and ready to tackle 2014 which is reportedly set to the biggest year of growth since the recession hit.

2013 was a good year at Intersect we are pleased to have seen employer confidence creeping back in the way of more permanent candidates being offered roles and importantly many senior appointments being made in many cases as a result of company growth.

The Construction Products Association, Experian and Leading Edge are next week expected to reveal the industry grew in 2013 after decline had been forecast over the course of last year, with stronger growth rates also expected for the following two years.
Construction Products Association economics director Noble Francis said upward revisions for last year would be largely due to significant revisions to output data from 
the Office for National Statistics.
Quarterly growth rates for the second and third quarters of 2013 leapt to 2.6 per cent from 1.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively.
“Unless Q4 2013 is disastrous, which we don’t anticipate it being, it would be hard to justify a negative for 2013,” he said.
Hopes for growth remain despite the UK’s battering by the worst storms in more than 20 years over Christmas and the New Year.
Aecom transportation director Paul McCormick said: “Most construction companies at the moment close down for two weeks over Christmas, and they are starting back with full workloads ahead of them.
“Overall I think the country coped remarkably well on what was a continued period of bad weather. Although it appears not to have delayed many construction projects, it will no doubt involve lots of construction professionals in clearing up and planning reactive and future mitigation schemes.”

Although this has been our first full week back after Christmas our activity reflect Paul McCormick’s comments. We have started back with a great deal of momentum with a range of fantastic career opportunities available within the civil engineering an infrastructure sectors.

If you would like to consider your career options please get in touch with Intersect we are currently recruiting for a wide range of positions from Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management to Site and Project Managers.

Infrastructure contractors have seen a significant rise in their workloads this year, with a substantial jump in new orders helping to create more jobs and stimulate the sector.

According to the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) workload trends survey for Q3 2013, 58 per cent of firms saw more work in the last 12 months compared with a year ago, while just 14 per cent reported a falling load of construction work resulting in an overall balance of +44 per cent.
As well as being a significant rise on 12 months ago, the figures are also a major increase on Q2 of this year, when the balance stood at -2 per cent.

Workload figures are now at their highest since 2007, after being in negative figures for the majority of the economic downturn, but contractors are expecting the positive conditions to continue improving, with a balance of +40 per cent predicting that they will have more work in 12 months’ time than now.
CECA director of external affairs Alasdair Reisner welcomed the boost in activity but warned that the sector is still facing certain obstacles.

“After the challenges of recent years it is encouraging to see some real growth in workloads for the UK’s civil engineering contractors,” he explained.
“We recognise that this growth has been supported by the actions of government, which has worked with industry to unlock vital infrastructure investment projects across the country.”
He went on to say it is “essential” that the wider economy returns to growth, however, and that there is “no loss of focus” on the continuing need to invest in national transport and utility networks.
Mr Reisner concluded: “A booming economy does not remove the need to tackle congestion and energy security – in fact it makes tackling these issues even more critical.”

Positive news for construction industry growth.
The construction industry has seen its fifth consecutive month of growth, according to the latest CIPS/Markit survey.
September saw the sector continue to go from strength to strength, with the report suggesting strong expansion of overall output levels, as well as further improvement in their new order books.
Despite growth seeing a slight dip during September, down from the 59.1 reported in August to 58.9, it was still above the 50 threshold that defines expansion in the industry.
Once again, it was residential construction leading the way, marking the sharpest rise in housing developments since November 2003. It seems this particular area is continuing to benefit from government schemes such as Help-to-Buy and funding for lending.
However, all three sub-sectors of construction grew last month – commercial, residential and public sector – causing Markit economist Tim Moore to say that the construction sector is “no longer the weakest link in the UK economy”.
“The third quarter of 2013 ended with output growth riding high amid greater spending on infrastructure projects and resurgent house building activity,” he added.
Furthermore, the industry experienced increased order books, helping to provide a boost to employment figures. The report revealed that the creation of construction jobs is at its fastest for almost six years.
“Moreover, builders are confident that a tide of new tender opportunities will continue to lift the construction sector in the months ahead, supported by improved development funding conditions and better underlying economic conditions,” Mr Moore continued.
“September’s survey suggested that constructors are beginning to react with confidence to the more positive landscape for the sector, as job creation and input buying both rose at robust rates over the month.”
Construction optimism has also increased among businesses, with 51 per cent expecting a rise in output in the coming 12 months. A fall in output was predicted by just under ten per cent.
We all hope for this trend to continue into 2014 and beyond.