Great news for North West based construction firms that build industrial and manufacturing units, recent Barbour ABS data shows that planning applications for factory construction in the North West increased by an impressive 44% in 2014 and are posed to hit similar levels in 2015.


Barbour ABI is the leading provider of construction industry data, providing data used in official statistics by the Office for National Statistics. In their latest report, Barbour demonstrates that despite the recent slowdown in construction activity there’s a large pipeline of potential construction activity, which is most marked in the North West with the amount of manufacturing space earmarked for construction.


The rise in the number of planning applications for factory floor space is a great indicator of the optimism of manufacturers and as a builders merchants in the North West it’s especially exciting to see the region confident it will return to the kind of growth rates seen before, with the creation of new construction jobs, increase in demand for building supplies but also a focus on manufacturing and exports.


Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: “With planning applications continuing to rise, businesses and investors appear to be preparing and planning long term financial commitments within the industry.


“Despite the signs of a recent slowdown, the capacity of the UK manufacturing sector is set to increase, whether this fully transfers into increased output remains to be seen but it certainly shows that an appetite for investment remains strong.”