New figures have revealed a marginal rise in Scottish construction activity between October and December last year thanks to an increase in house-building.

The quarterly Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Construction & Infrastructure Market Survey states both public and private sector house building activity rose during A4, with the balance for public housing (+27%) being the highest in the UK.

However, muted figures in the private commercial and public non-housing subsectors, along with reported falls falls in infrastructure and private industrial work, resulted in the overall workload balance for Scotland lag most other UK regions.

Skills gaps also continue to exist, albeit at a less acute rate than other regions. 44% of Scottish respondents reported shortages of quantity surveyors (compared to 66% for the UK as a whole). 38% say that they are seeing shortages of other construction professionals (compared to a UK figure of 54%).

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Scottish surveyors remain relatively upbeat about the outlook for the sector – though less so than the UK average. An overall net balance of 42% believe their workloads will be higher in 12 months' time, compared with 48% across the UK. A net balance of 11% believe that they will employ more people over the next 12 months (compared to a UK figure of 35%).

Gail Hunter, RICS Scotland, Regional Director, said despite uncertainties such as Brexit and recent market events, activity in the Scottish construction sector continues to expand, "albeit marginally so".

"It appears that this growth is largely being driven by activity in the house-building sector, and whilst expectations for the year ahead remain relatively positive, the current lacklustre performance in other sub sectors will cause some concern," she said.

"Capacity constraints notwithstanding, the ability of the sector to contribute more sustainably to economic prosperity will depend largely on more coherent policies addressing issues ranging from workforce development to planning."

(LM)