The construction sector is still some way off recovery, according to recruiters.

This week, construction consultant Halcrow announced it is to axe 269 jobs across the UK and Ireland following a decline in workload.

Ray Connolly, director at construction recruiter Fawkes & Reece, told Recruiter: “The market is starting to turn and confidence is beginning to return in some quarters.

“A lot of construction businesses have had to steady their ship. They have had to lose people and there is a smaller workload.

“During the past six months where the workload has died off, they have had to let people go due to cash flow. A lot of businesses will be making redundancies around October time and there will be some companies that will still fold.”

Oliver Bailey, co-director at construction recruiter ApexJmt, adds: “There are not the jobs around. A lot of clients seem to want to keep the people they have got, waiting for things to pick up. There is a lot of window shopping at the moment. We are still getting interviews but turning them into deals is another story.”