Higher Government investment in the built environment will be central to sustained growth in construction activity this year and next, says the Construction Products Association (CPA) in its latest forecast.

In forecasting construction output growth of 2% this year and 3% next, the CPA has assumed that the plans announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review last year will go ahead.

It believes private sector work will level off as economic growth slows and that repair and maintenance work will outpace the growth in new build. It anticipates housebuilding will be as much constrained by planning delays as by any fall in demand.

But it is nervous. The CPA economists are as aware as any others that economic soft landings are difficult to achieve. They pin their hopes on Government money actually coming through to the sharp end of the industry. They point out that it needs to because for decades the UK has invested a smaller proportion of its income on the built environment and infrastructure than other countries, which, they say, has retarded the competitiveness of UK industry the quality of life.