The Importance of Verifying Construction Commencement Notices

The following are some interesting points on why solid statistics that report on construction activity can’t be based solely on commencement notices:

What’s really going on the ground and what is predicted to happen cannot be based on planning application volumes or commencement notices
You can equate a planning application for 5 houses with one for 5000. So for example, that just because commencement notices are down in number for a particular quarter, doesn’t mean that construction activity is down…in fact, it could be up, based on the number of units contained within each commencement notice
The Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland in their document “Irish Construction Prospects for 2016” have cast doubts on the validity of using published (unverified) commencement notices as a guide to activity stating that there is “a substantial gap between the published commencements and completion data”.

CIS research policy ensures that published commencement dates have to be 100% verified as there is often a significant difference between when a project is published to start and what actually happens on the ground.

The CIS Research Team have confirmed and verified over €4bn in commencements for large scale projects already this year with a further €2bn+ already confirmed for the latter half of the year.

Largest Confirmed Commencements for late 2014/2015

Project ID	Title	Primary Category	County	Stage	Start Date	Finish Date	Value
123970	€550m N17/N18 Gort To Tuam PPP Contract	Road / Highway	Galway	On Site	09/03/2015	09/02/2018	€550 m
62681	€500m M17 Galway (Rathmorrissy) to Tuam Motorway Scheme	Road / Highway	Galway	Contract Awarded	10/03/2015	14/02/2018	€500 m
56936	€500m Poolbeg Incinerator	Waste Transfer Station	Dublin	On Site	21/10/2014	21/10/2017	€500 m
121504	€220m N25 New Ross Bypass PPP Scheme	Road / Highway	Wexford	Contract Awarded	06/10/2015	05/04/2018	€220 m
570499	€200m Harbour Redevelopment	Apartments	Wicklow	On Site	16/02/2015	20/10/2017	€200 m
767561	€150m Google Data Centre	Office Building	Dublin	On Site	21/07/2014		€150 m
741764	£150m Design & Construction of Campus Blocks	University	Antrim	On Site	25/05/2015	25/11/2018	€150 m
783103	€134m Office Development	Office Building	Dublin	On Site	13/04/2015	18/05/2017	€134 m
684830	€130m Intel Manufacturing Buildings	Factory	Kildare	On Site	01/04/2014	01/10/2015	€130 m
697385	€120m Dairygold Expansion	Factory	Cork	On Site	12/08/2014	01/08/2016	€120 m
583220	€100m Electricity Generating Station	Power Station	Mayo	Contract Awarded	29/06/2015	03/01/2017	€100 m
647504	€95m Wind Farm	Wind Farm	Cork	On Site	01/12/2014	03/06/2016	€95 m
742394	€80m Educational and Medical Training Facility	School	Dublin	On Site	04/11/2014	05/11/2016	€80 m
72163	£75m Hospital	Hospital	Tyrone	On Site	15/09/2014	15/12/2016	€75 m
143687	€67m Páirc Uí Chaoimh Redevelopment	Sports / Football Stadia	Cork	On Site	21/09/2015	21/09/2017	€67 m
590052	€53m Event and Convention Centre	Conference / Exhibition Centre	Cork	Contract Awarded	26/06/2015	26/06/2020	€53 m
754071	£65m Road Upgrade	Road / Highway	Antrim	On Site	02/02/2015	05/06/2017	€50 m
777857	€50m – Office Development	Office Building	Cork	On Site	01/10/2014	01/04/2016	€50 m
618786	£50m Radiotherapy Unit	Hospital	Derry	On Site	10/07/2014	10/07/2016	€50 m
775741	€50m National Indoor Arena	Sports Arena / Hall	Dublin	On Site	23/03/2015	23/11/2016	€50 m
803539	£42m Phase II Signalling & Telecoms Design and Build Contractor	Railway Track / Work	Derry	Contract Awarded	22/06/2015	22/02/2017	€42 m
96605	Luas Cross City Scheme	Tram Track	Dublin	On Site	21/07/2015	15/08/2017	€370m

To view details on thousands of key construction projects taking place across All Ireland, visit our website, www.cisireland.com or contact us by phone 01 2999 200 to find out more about what CIS Online can do to maximise your business turnover potential!

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