international
construction
september 2014
REGIONALREPORT
20
Light at the end of the tunnel
This looks like it will be the case once
again. The most optimistic forecasts
have European construction growth
hitting about +2.0% in two years’ time
or so.Thiswill be against a global average
of +4% or better, with many major
emerging markets expected to be up in
+7% to +10% territory.
But it is always dangerous to generalise
about European growth, because the
region is made up of such a spread
of countries with different growth
characteristics and drivers.
The broad generalisation about the
region these days is that theNorthern countries are performing
the best, and the situation gets worse in the South.
Most would agree that the most attractive European
construction market this year is the UK, thanks to a booming
housing market and a number of high-profile infrastructure
projects like the Crossrail East-West rail project in London.
Growth is put at +4.4% this year by Euroconstruct, with a
further improvement expected next year.
There are one or two other European countries where growth
might be stronger this year – Ireland and maybe Sweden –
but the UK is a much more significant market. According to
Euroconstruct, it is the third largest construction market in
Europe, at € 169 billion (US$ 225 billion) in 2013, behind
France and the regional powerhouse of Germanywith its € 280
billion (US$ 370 billion) annual construction output.
Elsewhere in the North, the Nordic countries are also among
the better performers in Europe, with Denmark, Norway and
Sweden also showing good growth, although Finland has had a
few ups and downs over the last year or so.
Kjetil Tonning, FIEC’s vice president with responsibility for
theNordic andBaltic countries, and vice president for business
development at major regional contractor Veidekke said, “As I
remember it, Sweden was the first to recover after the financial
crisis.They recovered surprisingly fast.”
There are some good projects taking place in the region.
Norway,Veidekke’s home country, is among the best-positioned
thanks to its oil& gas wealth.
“It is stable,” saidMrTonning, “not much change. You know
what you can expect even if you change the government. For
big investments in infrastructure, we are convinced they will
continue doingwhat the last government did.
“Thefinancial resources are there, even though theoil fund can
only spend a limited part of its revenue on that. As long as the
government has a policy saying that they are going to connect
all the small villages, then we will have a lot to do because it is
a huge country.”
Jernbaneverket, the Norwegian Rail Administration, is
working on Follobanen, which is being designed to meet the
increaseddemand for rail capacity inOslo. It is expecting a30%
population increase by 2025, partly a result of migration to the
capital for work. Jernbaneverket has highlighted potential for
increased freight traffic as well as passenger trains.
Follobanen is a 22.5 km high speed line between Oslo and
Ski stations, and Jernbaneverket said it would includeNorway’s
longest tunnel so far. It said by 2025, it expected 11,000more
travellers a day, an almost +70% increase in train passengers to
the Oslo Central Station at rush hour, about 5,800 fewer car
trips and about 750 fewer truck journeys a day.
Preparatory work is underway, and the main construction
workwill be carried out between 2015 and 2021.
Infrastructure is also a driver in Sweden, fuelled by the
government’sNationalTransport Plan for 2014 to 2015, which
>
One of themilestones on the London,
UK Crossrail project this year was
the successful launching I June of
a 10,000 tonne, 120m long bridge
over the Great WesternMain Line,
which connects London to thewest
of England and SouthWales. The
bridgewill be part of a new rail link
to London’s HeathrowAirport.
The E6, one
of Norway’s
important road
and rail projects,
seen here two
years ago at the
start of thework.
