Engineering contractors benefit from transportation investment

Nick Elvin

An investment in road and rail projects combined with a growth in new car sales has contributed to an increase in opportunities for engineering contractors, according to giant group.

The specialist service provider’s latest analysis of its contractor database has found that growing numbers of professionals are operating in the automotive and transport industries. This follows on from the Government’s unveiling of the £15bn Road Investment Strategy, which has been labelled as “the biggest upgrade to [UK] roads in a generation”. In addition, it was also revealed that new car sales grew for the 42nd straight month in August, which has also contributed to demand for contractors.

Matthew Brown, managing director of giant group said: “Ever since the ambitious plans for developing our road infrastructure were announced we knew that contractors would likely benefit and it’s good to see this become a reality. The expertise provided by this area of the workforce is unrivalled in the permanent market and the likelihood is that many of these projects would fall by the wayside were it not for contractors.

“These are ongoing developments and it’s probable that demand will continue for some time as more and projects get under way. Many professionals have also reported opportunities in the automotive sector, which isn’t particularly surprising when we consider that this is one of our major growth industries at the moment.

“Our analysis also found that the percentage of engineering contractors who would turn down a permanent vacancy over the chance to continue contracting has risen for the third year in a row. This reflects the trend of more professionals wanting to have a greater control over their work/life balance.”