Drivers Jonas Deloitte published its annual UK crane survey today and the findings make for depressing reading but won't cause too much surprise. Looking at the key UK cities: Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow it finds that construction starts have dropped 36% in the 12 months to July compared to previous 12 months period.
Offices, retail and residential schemes (over 10,000 sq ft) are the hardest to find with most activity restricted to student housing and education (click on diagram for a bigger version).
Out of the five cities, it is Birmingham which has seen the most activity, jumping from 8 to 14 starts in 12 months. The comprehensive refurbishment of Five Brindleyplace is the most notable office scheme but this is eclipsed by the huge redevelopment of New Street Station which will include a 250,000 sq ft John Lewis.
At the other end of the scale are Scotland's two biggest cities: Edinburgh and Glasgow. Neither has seen any construction starts although both have projects underway - Edinburgh had a relatively busy crane survey last time around. Most notable development that is already underway is Edinburgh city council's speculative office development Atria which completes early next year.
It is a similar picture for Glasgow in that there is development activity already underway, mainly around the 2014 Commonwealth Games site in the East End.
You can read the full report on DJ Deloitte's website
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