Kate Kirby, Construction & Infrastructure Partner at global legal business, DWF, comments on the CIPS/IHS Markit construction PMI figures for February 2020. She said:
"Following a nine-month period of decline, UK construction companies indicated a return to business activity growth during February, the sharpest rise in new orders since December 2015 and the strongest growth since end of 2018. This is likely due to the anticipated post general election 'bounce' and is a welcome boost for the sector.
"The question now is around the impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on the global supply chain of construction materials and workforce, which is likely to result in significant delays to projects. With investors speculating the global economy could grow at its slowest rate since 2019 due to the coronavirus outbreak, are we likely to see the same growth reported in the coming months? Probably not."