CHESHIRE OAKS, England, October 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Expert provider of market intelligence for the Built Environment sector, Barbour ABI has today revealed that while planning application volumes from 'Home Improvers' continue to run at historically high levels, recent months have been flat (June to August).

For this period (to end of August 2012), home improvement applications have bucked the seasonal trend of the last few years which has tended to show a steady increase during the period (Table 2).  

While applications for larger schemes continue to be depressed, overall volumes in 2012 are up on previous years.

TABLE 1 Data Year on Year to Date

    Jan - Aug               2008      2009      2010     2011     2012
    Large Projects         35103     23435     25749    24327    23688
    Home Improvements     266907    209218    233659   252671   257306
    Other small projects  134460    122802    158974   162796   172229
    Total                 436470    355455    418382   439794   453223
 

TABLE 2 Data for Three Month Period (June to End of August)

    Last 3 months           2008      2009      2010     2011     2012
    Large Projects         12148     10190      9754     9027     8559
    Home Improvements      94631     84618     92836    99235    91772
    Other small projects   48493     51786     64298    67037    65382
    Total                 155272    146594    166888   175299   165713

With the Government's recent announcements of a temporary relaxation around rules for domestic extensions attracting considerable debate, the figures released indicate that for many the 'improve not move' decision has already been made.

Notes for Editors:

Barbour ABI is the leading provider of construction intelligence products, providing UK companies with sales leads, contact data, CRM software and market intelligence. Its reputation is built and maintained by the in-house team of market researchers who have excellent working relationships with planning authorities and other relevant information providers, including Government departments. Barbour ABI is based in Cheshire Oaks, Cheshire.

Barbour ABI recently won the tender to collate and produce the Government's Construction and Infrastructure Pipeline which outlines future construction and infrastructure projects where public funding is agreed. Barbour ABI will be responsible for publishing data every six months, on behalf of the Government.