European Construction Sector Moves up A Gear in 2015: Selected Results of the EUROCONSTRUCT Winter Conference 2014

According to the latest analyses by experts from the 19 member states of the EUROCONSTRUCT network, total construction work will increase by over 2% over the course of this year. Similarly large increases are also expected in 2016 and 2017. With a probable increase of a good 7½%, civil engineering looks set to develop in the most favourable manner over the three year period. Residential construction is expected to grow at a slightly slower pace of 6½%. This, however, will primarily be due to the subdued development of construction measures in existing buildings, and less to demand for new-builds, which will pick up perceptibly. In contrast to the new-build sector, however, construction measures in existing buildings will return to their pre-crisis levels of 2007 as early as 2007. The third construction sector, non-residential construction, will see the lowest increase over the three years to 2017 of around 6%. This will be due to the economic situation, which remains unfavourable in several European countries, and looks set to improve only slowly. As a result, companies will remain cautious about commissioning construction work.