Electric.ie September - October Edition

34 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • T he summary of the build report, published in February highlights the performance and productivity of the construction sector for 2019. Below are the main points of the report. Investment and Output 1. Total investment in Building and Construction in Ireland is projected to increase to €30 billion in 2019 or 14 percent as a share of GNI*. 2. The share of investment accounted for by housing is forecast to increase from 26 percent in 2019 to 45 percent in 2023. 3. In 2018 there were 18,072 new dwelling completions. This was a 25 percent increase on 2017.Of the new dwelling completions in 2018, 13 percent were in an Apartment Scheme. 4. The overall public capital allocation for 2019 is €7.3 billion. This is a €1.4 billion (24 percent) increase on 2018. 5. The Government’s latest Investment Projects and Programmes Tracker includes 271 major projects and programmes with 25 major infrastructure projects commencing in 2019. Costs 1. The construction tender price index, which covers non-residential construction, is estimated to have increased by 7.4 percent in 2018. 2. Construction costs for new residential buildings have remained relatively constant between Q3 2010 and Q3 2018, with annual average growth of less than 1.5 percent over that period. 3. In the year to December 2018 there was a 0.3 percent increase in the wholesale price index for building and construction materials. 4 .The average hourly earnings for all construction employees increased by 6.2 percent on an annual basis in Q4 2018 to stand at €21.43. Employment and Enterprise 1. Employment in the construction sector stood at 145,500 in Q4 2018, representing an annual increase of 8 percent. 2. This represents 6.4 percent of total employment in the Irish economy. 3. In 2016, there were 50,673 construction enterprises, with over 95 percent of these classified as Micro (0-9 persons engaged). 4 .The average gross value added per person engaged in the large construction enterprises (250+ persons engaged) is €98,000, almost double the average gross value added per person engaged in the small and micro enterprises (0-49 persons engaged). Skills and Knowledge 1. There was a total of 3,398 new construction apprentice registrations in 2018, representing an annual increase of 15 percent. However, in 2018 new apprentice registrations in bricklaying and plastering were at 12 percent and 9 percent of their peak in 2004. 2. There were 4,746 undergraduate new entrants in engineering, manufacturing and construction in 2017/18, representing a decrease of 4 percent compared to the previous year. 3. The number of new entrants in building and civil engineering in 2017/18 was 57 percent of the 2009 level. Productivity 1 .There has been little to no productivity growth in the Irish construction sector between the years 2000 and 2016. 2 .Had the construction industry kept pace with productivity growth in the other domestically dominated sectors, gross value added would be some €3.1 billion higher. 3. Ireland’s construction sector is ranked fourteenth in the Euro Area for labour productivity. Reality Check for the Construction Industry Industry News Industry Ne s The full report is available at www.gov.ie/2040