Building upswing seen

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 8

Building upswing seen

The building industry has taken an encouraging upswing during the last year, according to the president of the Canterbury Master Builders and Joiners’ Association, Mr Bill Harrison. In his report to the association’s annual meeting last evening, Mr Harrison said the steady rise of building permit applications had been significant enough to make encouraging changes to the industry, both locally and nationally. However, he denied that there had been a “building boom.” “I believe we have done no more than return to normal trading conditions,” said Mr Harrison.

Big local contracts such as the new Ministry of t Works and Development offices, the Canterbury Hospital Board works and the new Christchurch Girls’ High School project would do little more than keep big contractors employed. “All would appear to be working within their capacity,” he said. The significant increase in building apprenticeships was of considerable longterm importance to the building industry, he said. “However, it is quite obvious that most employers

are still very cautious about increasing permanent staff to meet the sudden demand and are adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” he said. It was important to note that the upturn in the industry continued, despite Government changes to its housing policy almost fortnightly from July last year to February this year. It was still too early to measure the effect on the industry of other Government actions such as the new Apprenticeships Act and the Industrial Relations Act.