East of England sees 5 years of uninterrupted growth

The East of England has enjoyed five years of sustained growth in project starts, a longer period of uninterrupted growth than any other part of the UK. The official output figures confirm the strong performance, with new build commercial and infrastructure work driving regional workloads last year. 

Furthermore prospects for the region remain positive. Last year the region brushed off general election nerves with starts rising 4% accompanied by a steady rise in the value of work securing planning consent. 

The economic outlook for the East of England is encouraging, with employment and the housing market supported by the region’s proximity to London, and high growth potential in Norwich and especially Cambridge, due to technology and engineering clusters around the Universities. The development pipeline also remains strong: the value of detailed planning approvals rose 36% last year.

Whilst the value of project starts slipped back during the first quarter of this year, the strong development pipeline is expected to feed through as a continued strengthening in regional activity during 2016 as a whole.