The latest ONS figures show that total volume of construction output increased by 0.4% in August compared with July and fell by 4.1% compared with August 2010. Public housing increased by 4.1% and non-residential repair and maintenance increased by 6.3% but both are relatively small portions of total activity.

The housing market remains flat, with RICS reporting that prices fell slightly in September with surveyors expecting further house price falls. The possibility of the Government responding to the anti development lobby and delaying its planning reforms is also unnerving the market with the Home Builders Federation warning that there was a "risk of a house building ice age". The latest FMB survey also reported that although the rate of decline in SME workloads eased to its slowest rate for a year, construction workloads continued to decline in the third quarter 2011. Interestingly the strongest improvement was in the public new build sector.

These views were echoed by the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Manager's Index which reported broadly unchanged level of activity in the UK construction sector for September compared to August. Opportunities to tender had deceased and lack of client confidence had lead to projects being cancelled or delayed.

To try and counter the negative news from the housing market Grant Shapps and his parliamentary private secretary, Jake Berry, have both been quoted in the press last week saying that housing output will reach 230,000 homes per year before the end of the parliament. Measures announced to achieve this include release of land by the departments of Health, Defence, DEFRA and Transport supported by the Build Now Pay Later policy.

The Prime Minister has also announced the Government's intention to raise Right to Buy discounts to make it attractive to tenants across England. The money raised will then be used to pay off the debt, and to fund more affordable housing.

Ending on a positive note, Travis Perkins have announced their interim results for the first 9 months of 2011. Turnover in the merchanting division was up 11.4%, representing an increase in like-for-like turnover per trading day of 9.6%.

We are about to reach the end of the beginning for the Green Deal. The most important point to note is that DECC will be going out to consultation at the end of October. There will be a relatively short consultation period of 10 weeks which will both provide an opportunity to contribute to the development of the Green Deal concept and learn what is proposed.

A consultation is already underway on the accreditation process. PAS 2030 - Improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings - Specification for installation process, process management and service provision. This closes on 24^th October but can be downloaded from the BSI website.

The other important development has been the formation of the Green Deal Finance Company. Established solely as a standalone finance vehicle to provide the source of financing for the Green Deal. Its purpose is to minimise the cost of underlying finance and loans administration of Green Deals, with the aim of raising finance in the capital markets at high investment grades, from the cheapest sources of finance.

The following organisations are members of and advisors to TGDFC: British Gas, Clifford Chance, Carillion, E.ON, EDF Energy, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Insta Group, Kingfisher, Linklaters, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, Mark Group, Npower, PwC, RBC Capital Markets, SSE

For detailed information on the TGDFC visit the Green Deal page on the Competitive Advantage website.

As part of the Localism Bill the existing set of PPS and PPG guidance will be replaced with National Policy Statements (NPS) with the intention of simplifying the planning process. The first of these have been approved by the House of Commons and are now available on the DECC website.

Following the Treasury's Infrastructure Cost Review, published in December last year, BIS have now published their own report "Infrastructure supply chains: Barriers and opportunities" This is not government policy, presenting views from the industry, but it is expected to influence government policy. Innovation is identified as a constraint and an area for attention.

As thoughts turn to preparing next year's budget Competitive Advantage have published a new report which can provide a useful benchmark. The first of what is intended to become an annual survey, information was provided by construction industry companies representing manufacturers, contractors, suppliers and professional services firms. Being the first survey respondent numbers were relatively low but it still provides a useful benchmark.

Marketing spend as a proportion of turnover ranged from below 1% to as much as 10%, with suppliers and professional services firms spending the most.

More than half of all companies saw their 2011 budgets at the same level or more than 2010. Expectations for 2012 are positive with more than half of manufacturers, contractors and professional services firms expecting an increase. Suppliers are not quite as confident.

As might be expected there has been a growth in the use of digital communications, with Twitter one of the most used forms.

The report costs only £40 + VAT and can be purchased online from the Competitive Advantage website.

If you would like to participate in next year's survey and receive a free copy of the report, complete the form and we will contact you when next year's survey opens.

At CIMCIG's recent seminar, "The Changing Face of Specification", one of the speakers was the architect Su Butcher. Regular followers of Twitter will be familiar with Su who is a leading construction commentator. At the seminar Su presented the architect's perspective concerning the manufacturer's battle to communicate and inform.

I normally view this from the manufacturer's perspective - a constant challenge to get architects to take notice of communications. They do not read direct mail, will not open email, may not read magazines regularly (our CMI research says 19% do not read a journal regularly) and they have gatekeepers to stop phone calls and visits. As a manufacturer this is all very frustrating.

Sue helped me to see it from the architect's side. They, like the rest of us, are very busy and have no time to waste on unnecessary information. A typical architect will have numerous projects on the go at any one time, and when they do need to identify new products they do what most of us do when buying a new TV, car or holiday - they use their network of contacts to get personal recommendations. This is just part of the growing trend known as "permission marketing" where buyers have to give their permission before you can sell to them.

Sue's message was that trying to get past the gatekeeper was just rude and disregarding the architect's wish to be left in peace so that they can get on with their job. Her solution is that companies should use social media to build their reputation and gain referrals. She gave an example where she had been unable to find a suitable design of lighting and resorted to using Twitter to ask for help. A lighting company responded with a product and as a result she specified it. She gave a further example where a Google search lead her to a technical blog written by a very niche company.

In recent years there has been much discussion and debate about the role of social media when promoting to specifiers, with the benefit of the architect's perspective I wonder if the time is now coming closer when manufacturers will need to adopt social media as a mainstream communication channel. Of course, any communications programme should involve multiple touch points not just social media. Perhaps manufacturers need to look at the choices available to communicate and select those which will either give them direct contact with specifiers, or indirect contact via product directories and the other proprietary systems available?

It's certainly time to publish regular technical blogs and monitor Twitter, contributing in a relevant manner to conversations (and our report on marketing spend suggests this is starting to happen). But it will need a new approach. It is not a case of selling-in the same technical article in a slightly different format to different journals. It is about producing detailed technical comment on a regular basis. That means it needs to be written by technical experts, perhaps adopting the approach of many IT companies with online technical forums. All of which means a closer cooperation between marketing and technical functions. It may also mean a new approach to mass communication. I know many companies where press releases need to be signed off by senior management as part of the (often necessary) control of the company's image. There will be a conflict between this management of corporate identity and the need to provide fast responsive communication on technical issues. I anticipate a number of challenges for the industry as a result.

Su's white paper on the subject is well worth reading.