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Qatar more expensive to build than the UK

Aug, 10 2012

(UK)  --  Construction costs have fallen over the past year, and the UK is now a cheaper place to build than Qatar and New Zealand, according to new research from EC Harris.

The annual EC Harris International Construction Costs Report, released today, ranks the UK the 15th most expensive country to build out of 53 countries, down from 13th in the 2011 findings. each country was ranked according to cost of construction.

But just comparing across Europe shows that the UK is the eighth most expensive country for construction costs, up from ninth in 2011, meaning that the UK jumps above Italy this year as EC Harris said that

Switzerland is the most expensive country for construction costs across all 53 analysed, with Denmark in second place. But even costs in Switzerland had dropepd by 10 per cent over the past 12 months due to the fall in value forthe Swis Franc.

Comparing continents, Europe had five of the top ten most expensive countries, compared with eight last year. Asia-Pacific had four of the 10 most expensive countries with Australia third and Hong Kong fourth.Canada moved up into eighth place, with EC Harris findings that construction costs on average were 14 per cent higher than in 2011.

Mathew Riley, group head of cost and commercial at EC Harris said: “Those countries that are least constrained by debt problems are continuing to invest in construction activities to help fuel their continued growth.

“In the UK however, a slow economic recovery combined with a lack of private investment, means that construction workload is unlikely to increase until 2014 at the earliest. London’s office sector is a potential bright spot, however even then market uncertainty and difficulty in securing funding means that opportunities may not be fully realised.”

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