Supermarket projects support construction recruitment
Hundreds of construction jobs have been created in the past year by a boom in retail construction projects, as analyst company Glenigan has reported that over £500 million of retail construction project sites have started work in the year ending June 2010.
New build, renovation and extension works from the country's "big five" supermarket chains and other retail groups have been responsible for creating many jobs in construction throughout the country over the pasty year, according to Glenister. Their figures say that retail construction is likely to remain "well up on 2009 levels" even as public spending cuts cast a shadow over public sector and local authority projects.
According to Glenigan, 69% of the £500m figure is accounted for by supermarket projects. One significant driver in this is the £610m profits reported by Sainsburys last year, significantly up from £220m in 2005. According to a company spokesman much of this profit is being reinvested in to expanding their network of stores.
"Retail looks likely to deliver badly needed growth prospects in construction over the next eighteen months," says Glenigan economist James Abraham. "Supermarket projects will ensure that as government funding fades away and other sectors remain bogged down by lack of investment, retail construction will remain well up on 2009 levels."
The prospects of retail construction seem likely to improve even further this year, as Tesco announced in April that it would increase its capital expenditure on expansion projects to £1.6bn. The company said that it will be restarting schemes shelved during the recession and over the intervening months, it has submitted plans for several multi million pound developments.
Author: William Hobson
Keywords: construction recruitment, construction jobs, jobs in construction