The rapidly growing South West commercial property market has inspired record revenues for a firm operating in the construction industry.
Despite only being founded three years ago by friends Gary Higgins and Ben Milsom GBRS Recruitment, which specialise in the construction and recruitment sector, has seen revenues hit £2.5 million going into 2015, with the firm employing new members of staff to cope with demand.
And with Hinkley Point around the corner and the burgeoning commercial property market in Bristol and the surrounding area, the pair are confident of good times ahead.
Gary comments: “2014 has been a whirlwind new year for us and there is no doubt the increasing number of office construction builds has been good for business. We’re supplying more and more staff to non-residential build projects, both commercial and industrial. We’ve definitely seen confidence blossom amongst developers and investors.
JLL and Glenigan’s latest UK commercial Construction Activity Index recently demonstrated this growth stating that non-residential new build activity is increasing rapidly, with the value of new starts over the year to Q3 in 2014 amounting to £12.5bn – up 5.4% on the year to Q2
The report also stated that the rise in activity has led to supply chain issues and labour shortages, something which Gary and Ben have also noticed.
Ben comments: “Skills shortages in the construction industry are at their highest level since 2008 and this is seeing costs rising and leads times extending.
“We are launching a campaign to encourage young people to enter construction and it’s been good to see some of our clients launching their own apprenticeship programmes to solve the problem.
Gary adds: “The faster than expected recovery is bound to bring pressures but we must look at the positives in the construction sector.
“The industry remains in a strong position going into 2015 and a 10 % growth in new project starts in 2014 is matching pre-recession levels and there has been a 4% rise in non-residential starts, with privately financed sectors faring better than those backed by the public sector.”
GBRS Recruitment is based in Weston-super-Mare.
