The impact of the recession is evident in the latest UK Construction Industry Key Performance Indicators, which are centred upon data from thousands of projects completed during 2010, and are produced by Glenigan and Constructing Excellence on behalf of BIS and ONS.

Allan Wilén, Economics Director, Glenigan commented: "The recession is leaving its mark. Industry profitability has fallen from 7.7% to 5% as workloads have fallen, margins squeezed and labour shed. The retained workforce is being more intensively deployed and the sharp jump in productivity over the last year is likely to include cyclical factors, alongside any incremental efficiency improvements. Despite challenging economic conditions, previous improvements in client satisfaction have been sustained and predictability of project delivery, both to cost and budget, has improved further."

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Environmental performance has also improved as evidenced by 12 out of 13 measures.

Dr Vicky Hutchinson, Senior Project Manager, CCI commented: "Looking ahead, public and private sector clients face a tough financial environment and will increasingly demand that firms demonstrate their ability to deliver projects to time and budget. More clients are using KPIs to compare consultants and contractors, who have themselves realised that good benchmark scores help them win work. The recent Government Construction Strategy also emphasises cost benchmarking and performance on value going forward."

(CD/KMcA)