Stephen Marcos Jones, CEO of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) responds to the latest IHS Markit / CIPS UK Construction PMI figures.

“We are hearing stark warnings – the OBR outlined a poor outlook for the rest of the year in the Spring Statement, and only yesterday the Bank of England shared its views that surging inflation could trigger a recession. While we need to be wary of self-fulfilling prophecies, we do need to recognise that we are now in choppy waters and the immediate post-pandemic optimism, which positively impacted on construction figures in 2021 and 2022, has now started to dissipate.”  

“The conflict in Ukraine is leading to further pressures on materials and the supply chain, fuelling inflation and an increase in project costs. We need to ensure this doesn’t negatively impact on the pipeline by encouraging public clients to push on through with committed projects – and in some cases to bring them forward – to support the industry through what will undoubtedly be challenging times ahead.”