Overall order volumes in the first quarter of this year were the worst since records began in 1983

The March figures for construction new orders were only marginally better than those seen in the previous two months and there are still little signs that point to any stabilisation in industry workload.

Monthly new order figures can be volatile, so to assess the trend in work volume it is better to look at 3-months figures. These show that overall order volumes in the first quarter of this year were the worst since records began in 1983, down by a fifth compared to the final quarter of 2008 and 38% lower compared to last year.

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Postscript

Maren Baldauf-Cunnington is a construction economist with cost consultant Davis Langdon and is based in Dubai

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