Last month I referred to the doubt being cast over the figures published by the Office for National Statistics, and not long after their figures for construction output were revised. Currently quoted figures show output rose by 5.5% in the 3 months to April 2011, but this includes a fall of 13.8% in April itself. Described by Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist as "close to the average for the first quarter and way down on the numbers recorded in the final three months of 2010".

During Quarter 1 new orders fell by 23%, this applied to all sectors. Recently published ONS employment data also shows a fall of 1.1% in the number of people employed by the industry during the first quarter of 2011.

On a more positive note Wolseley, who tend to act as a benchmark for the industry, say like-for-like revenue in the UK was up by 1% for the period from February to April 2011.

In housing, the Homes & Communities Agency announced that it exceeded its output targets for 2010-11 by 65%, achieving a total of 57,605 housing starts on site against a target of 34,982 and 64,242 completions in England which is 8,088 more homes delivered than last year. However there always seems to be bad news, this time reported by Glenigan who say that the underlying value of UK residential construction starts was 31% lower for the three months to May compared to the same period in 2010. Private housing project starts were down 32% while social housing projects fell 28%.

Perhaps the news that the Government is to sell land for 100,000 homes and that the newly announced Education Funding Agency will deliver 100 new PFI schools will contribute to an easing of the situation.

Possibly the most important of this month's government announcements came from Francis Maude and is the Construction Strategy intended to reform the way government procures construction and reduce costs by up to 20% by the end of this parliament. As part of this and to provide effective co-ordination of Government procurement a new Government Construction Board, chaired by Paul Morrell, will be established. Much has already been written about this, which I will not repeat here, but you can read the full strategy by following the link.

An important part of this will be the adoption of BIM for government projects, if you are a manufacturer and do not think this will impact upon you, then you are mistaken, see my recent blog on the subject. For some further information about BIM see a selection of useful articles on the NBS website.

I recently spoke at the Electrical Contractors Association Conference on the Commercial Value of Sustainability. This presented the CIMCIG Paper from last year, updated to reflect the plans for The Green Deal. At the moment the Green Deal represents a moving target, but you can get an update on the latest developments from our summary on the Competitive Advantage website.

With effect from 1^st July 2011 there will be be there will be the revision of BREEAM for new non-domestic buildings. This will replace the 2008 edition currently in use. The full BREEAM 2011 Technical Manual is available on line as is a Q&A document to support it.

After deciding to review Feed-In Tariffs, the Government has now announced the new rates which apply from 1^st August. These are linked to the size of the installation, with higher rates for smaller units, intended to support householders.

As well as those mentioned above there are a few other Government initiatives announced. The Red Tape Challenge is one which might make all of our lives easier. This sees a series of consultations where companies can suggest legislation which could be removed.

This works by providing a 2 week window, by subject, when suggestions can be submitted. Manufacturing will be covered starting 14^th July with Housing & Construction scheduled for November. Already we are seeing claims of success with an announcement this week that energy suppliers with less than 250,000 customers will not need to participate in the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP).

The Community Right to Build is another initiative being pressed forward by the Government as part of its Localism Bill. This sees community organisations able to approve new local developments without the need to go through the normal planning application process. A very short guide has been published to help communities with this process.