 |
Over the next four years the NSW Government is investing $65.5billion in infrastructure, which will sustain an average of over 160,000 jobs every year.
|
ISSUE 48, 16 APRIL 2010 |
|
|
|
|
 |
| 500th stimulus property completed
|
|
| Housing NSW has announced the completion of the 500th home to be built under the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan. With more than 88 percent of all constructions now in progress, the milestone signals a new generation of housing in NSW. Read more |
|
|
|
| Commonwealth establishes Building Education Revolution Taskforce
|
|
| Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, this week announced the formation of a Commonwealth BER Implementation Taskforce to further insure the Australian Government’s $16.2 billion school infrastructure investment. Read more |
|
|
|
| School Halls for Teaching and Learning
|
|
| All NSW Government school halls provided under the Primary Schools for the 21st Century component of Building the Education Revolution are built primarily as teaching and learning spaces, to be used for a range curricular activities including musical performances, drama, dance and games. Read more |
|
|
|
| Continued Commitment to Transparency
|
|
| In line with continued commitment to transparency, the NSW BER Program Office has published the estimated construction sums for 1,568 projects at 1,208 schools on the NSW BER website. Read more |
|
|
|
| Local Contractors on BER Projects
|
|
| Managing Contractors were assessed based on their capacity to deliver value for money as well as their willingness and ability to engage local suppliers as part of the tender process. Read more |
|
|
|
| The Reed Group welcomes BER Taskforce
|
|
| The Reed Group welcomed the establishment of the Federal Government’s Commonwealth BER Implementation Taskforce to ensure school communities are receiving value for money under the BER program. Read more |
|
|
|
| Completion of major school stimulus projects
|
|
| Recently, several major school projects in the St George and Sutherland Shire have been completed. Read more |
|
|
|
| Latest building and construction survey results
|
|
The building and construction industry is now showing signs of improvement following a roller-coaster ride experienced in the wake of the global financial crisis, according to the Master Builders Australia’s National Survey of Building and Construction.
Master Builders Australia Chief Economist, Peter Jones, said: “Own-business activity and profits continue to trend up, but remain well short of levels achieved prior to the downturn. In the March quarter there was an encouraging pick up in non-residential building as government stimulus programs began to flow through to work on the ground.”
There was little change in builders’ intentions to employ labour, suggesting that workforce levels may remain fairly steady over the next six months, a much better outcome than was expected a year ago in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Pressures related to finding skilled labour rose across all categories in the March quarter as builders once again experience some difficulty finding a range of subcontractors/employees particularly project managers, site managers and foremen/supervisors.
The March quarter survey reveals that the impact of the credit squeeze remains an issue for builders. Although down on recent highs, nearly 30 per cent of respondents reported that the availability of finance was having a large or constraining effect on their business.
Mr Jones said, “Commercial and residential builders still struggling with the effects of the credit crunch now have to factor in higher financing costs. Builders expect further increases in interest rates and the survey index measuring the impact of interest rates on forward orders has risen sharply in the past six months”.
The full report is available at www.masterbuilders.com.au
For further information contact: Peter Jones, Chief Economist, Mobile 0403 440 838
|
  |
|
| Quicklinks |
|
|
|
 |
| Investing in a Better Future |
|
| PRINT ALL | FORWARD | SUBSCRIBE | UNSUBSCRIBE |