星空传媒

3906
The value in millions of euros of Spanish construction companies work overseas during 2001. The figure was up by 22% on the year before. Not surprisingly Spanish-speaking Latin America accounts for some 42% of the work. But other European Union countries account for a further 38% of the total. Asia and the remainder of Europe each account for 7% with Africa and the Middle East each providing just 3% of the work. Projects in Latin America include highways, airports, railways and large water infrastructure works. Chile, Brazil and Argentina have been particularly important markets in recent years.

2003
The date for publication of a specification for dynamic compaction. With the increasing use of brownfield sites the need for a specification of mechanical compaction has increased and the requirement for guidance is recognised as being long-overdue. An authoritative specification is being prepared for publication in June by the BRE under the Government鈥檚 Partners in Innovation initiative, with partial sponsorship by the Department for Trade and Industry.

218
The number of housebuilders being described as Chancers in the Plimsoll Strategic Risk Index of the Housebuilding Industry. The survey classes Chancers as companies using debt to gain market share. It finds that more than half the industry increased its level of debt last year but that 48% are putting the extra finance to good use. 鈥淭he dilemma facing these companies is that they will need to keep charging a premium to finance the debt,鈥� says David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll. According to Plimsoll the greatest surprise in the findings is that it is the larger players that seem particularly drawn to the strategy with 44% of the Chancer companies having sales above 拢10m.

63
The percentage of employers having an adequate or good understanding of the Construction Industry Training Board鈥檚 role in a survey conducted last year. The figure is down 4% on the 2000 CITB survey. However, overall satisfaction ratings of the board鈥檚 work have increased from 6.7 out of 10 in 2000 to 7.2 out of 10 in the latest survey. The most highly-rated services are training advice (7.8 out of 10); health, safety and welfare information and training programmes (7.5 out of 10); offering grants for training (7.3 out of 10); and management registration schemes (7.3 out of 10).

60
The number of days that customers typically take to pay their invoices to companies in the construction industry. The finding has emerged in a new report commissioned by the Construction Best Practice Programme using data on small and medium-sized companies supplied by Benchmark Index, a Business Link Service. The report also highlights that construction companies have too many suppliers with order values 60% lower than for suppliers to other industries. It also revealed that much of the difficulty faced in recruiting quality workers is due to the fact that construction firms invest less money in staff training than businesses in other sectors and are equally poor at allowing the staff the time to go on training courses.

35
The percentage of surveyors reporting a shortage of plumbers in the RICS鈥� fourth quarter Construction Survey for 2001. Other findings showed chartered surveyors reporting the first decline in construction workloads since the beginning of 1996. 1% more surveyors reported a drop in workloads during quarter four compared to 16% reporting a rise in quarter three. There were also slight drops in the number of surveyors reporting shortages of bricklayers, carpenters and plasterers according to the survey.