Big firms ''best bet for construction jobs''

by Rudy Scheinost

Those searching for UK jobs in the construction industry should look to the biggest firms, as these are experiencing a disproportionately large rise in their average contract sizes.

New figures published by the Financial Times have shown that it is the smallest building firms that are suffering in the aftermath of the recession.

Paul Walker, north-east manager at Tolent Construction, has admitted that his firm is having to look at work it would not have considered two years ago.

He said: "The big jobs on commercial building aren’t there any more and the competition for what work there is, is intense."

One reason why larger construction firms are doing better is that they have been able to concentrate on acquiring government contracts, which was one of the few areas that actually expanded last year.

In other news, business secretary Vince Cable recently highlighted the value of high-tech engineering on a tour of the Birmingham Metropolitan College, where he emphasised the importance of apprenticeships in this area.