Civil engineering to drive Polish growth

The civil engineering sector will be the driving force behind single-digit growth in the Polish construction sector for the next few years, according to research company PMR. It added that industrial construction will also play a key role.

According to PMR, growth in the Polish construction sector will pick up in 2015 and 2016, after only marginal gains in 2014. These findings are published in a new report from the company, Construction sector in Poland, H1 2015 - Development forecasts for 2015-2020.Indeed, the growth rate this year is expected to bounce back to a level last seen in 2012, a year when the industry benefitted from projects linked to the Euro 2012 football tournament.

Commenting on the outlook, the company said, “PMR analysts do not expect any dramatic upsurge in investment activity in the coming years but they rather anticipate a stable stream of new investment projects until 2022. The trend has already been seen in 2015 in the road construction sub-segment where investment projects start more slowly than expected.

“PMR analysts believe that 2015 will be marked by intensive work on numerous construction sites previously plagued by delays, which obtained financial support under the EU programming for 2007-2013. The last period for the settlement of the previous financial perspective will be also a preliminary phase of preparation and steady implementation of new investment tasks co-financed from the new EU financial framework.”

Although there is new work in the pipeline, PMR cautioned that the Polish market was likely to be volatile, with different sub-sectors of construction seeing stops and starts in activity. For example, it said the rail, water and sewage segments were likely to see a temporary slowdown in 2016, as the current crop of EU-funded schemes reached completion, but before new projects came on stream.

In the non-residential building sector, PMR expects moderate growth this year, particularly for industrial buildings and hotels.

It also added that Polish contractors were now in better health, with profitability in 2014 back to the levels seen in 2011 during the pre Euro 2012 boom. The interim period saw weak financial performances.