Tag Archives: construction

A strong start to Irish archaeology in 2015

Posted on by

 

Excvation licences issued quarterly 2012-15.

Excavation licences issued quarterly 2012-15.


The first quarter of 2015 saw a strong increase in Irish archaeological activity against a background of a general a loss of momentum in the recovery of the Irish construction industry.

In the first quarter of 2015 to the 31st of March there were 138 new excavation licences issued by the National Monuments Service in the Republic of Ireland. This is an increase of 7% over the number of 129 new licences issued in the first quarter of 2014 and the largest number of licences issued in the first quarter since I started tracking quarterly activity in 2012. In addition there were 6 Ministerial consents for works, 30 diving licenses, 7 Ministerial consents for excavation, and 2 Ministerial Directions for excavation.

The archaeological licensing figures contrast with the Ulster Bank Construction PMI Report  for March which registered a slight pickup in activity after four months of declining construction activity. While commercial construction continues to increase and housing activity improves civil engineering activity continued to decrease. Overall there is a loss of momentum in the recovery of the Irish construction industry.

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2015. A strong start to Irish archaeology in 2015. Dr. Charles Mount Blog, 22 April 2015. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1468

Irish Archaeological Activity Steady in 2014

Posted on by

Although the fourth quarter of 2014 saw a decrease in archaeological activity compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, as a whole 2014 was on a par with 2013.

Licenses issued quarterly 2012-14.

Licenses issued quarterly 2012-14.

Data Provided by the National Monuments Service indicates that in the fourth quarter of 2014 to the end of December there were just 56 new excavation licences issued in the Republic of Ireland. This is the lowest number of new licenses issued since I began tracking licenses quarterly in 2012. This also represents a decrease of 71% in comparison to the 96 licenses issued in the fourth quarter of 2013. Overall 2014 was just 2% behind 2013 with 462 licenses issued compared to 472 in the same period last year.

Licenses 2000-2014

Annual licenses 2000-2014

In addition in 2014 there were 11 Ministerial consents for works, 46 diving licenses, 37 Ministerial consents for excavation, and 15 Ministerial Directions for excavation.

The stagnation in archaeological activity contrasts with the expansion in construction output which has been sustained for more than a year. The Ulster Bank Construction PMI Report  for December registered a statistic of 63.4 (a figure above 50 indicates expansion in activity), which indicates a continuing rise in construction activity. All the individual construction sectors are now growing, activity in civil engineering is at 57.4, housing construction is at 63.5 and commercial construction is at 65.  The picture of expansion is supported by the  Central Statistics Office which has reported an increase in the number of grants of planning permissions in the third quarter of 2014 to 4,238 from 3,875 in the third quarter of 2013, an increase of 9.3%. It is not clear why archaeology, which precedes development, should not be reflecting the strong growth seen in the Irish construction sector.

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2015. Irish Archaeological Activity Steady in 2014. Dr. Charles Mount Blog, 28 January 2014. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1452

New Irish archaeological excavation licences on par with 2013.

Posted on by

 

Chart of quarterly excavation licences issued 2012-14.

Chart of quarterly Irish excavation licences issued 2012-14.

Overall the first half of 2014 is similar to 2013, with 253 new excavation licences issued by the National Monuments Service in the Republic of Ireland in comparison to 251 last year. However, in the second quarter of 2014 to the 30th of June there were only 124 issued, a decrease of 10% over the 139 new licences issued in the second quarter of 2013.  In addition there were 25 extensions to licences taken out in previous years and 10 Ministerial Consents for excavations were issued, a reduction in the numbers issued in the first quarter.

The archaeological licencing figures contrast with the Ulster Bank Construction PMI Report  for May which registered a statistic of 60.2 (a figure above 50 indicates expansion in activity), which was down from 63.5 in April, but still indicated a sharp rise in construction activity. If we look at the individual construction sectors, activity in civil engineering has continued to fall, though at a lower rate, and now stands at 47.9 for May up from  41.8 in April. The continuing decline in civil engineering construction probably accounts for the general lack of increase in new excavation licences this year. The figures indicates that Irish archaeological activity is still largely driven by the civil engineering and in the absence of significant government investment is lagging the general growth in construction output.

 

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2014. New archaeological excavation licences issued in first half of 2014 on par with 2013. Dr. Charles Mount Blog, 3 July 2014. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1415

Irish archaeology turns the corner in 2013

Posted on by
Excavation Licenses 2000-2

Excavation Licenses 2000-2013

Preliminary figures for the number of archaeological excavation licenses issued by the National Monuments Service indicate that the number of annual licenses issued in Ireland has risen for the first year since 2006.

472 licenses have been issued to date, a rise of 4% from the 454 issued in the whole of 2012. This indicates that the decline in archaeological activity in Ireland, which saw a collapse of an enormous 78% from peak to trough, has ended, and activity is beginning to increase again. Irish archaeological activity is closely correlated with activity in the construction industry (see here). Confirmation for the return to growth of the Irish construction industry comes from the Ulster Bank Construction Purchase Managers Index (see here) which recorded that construction industry activity grew in the third quarter of 2013 for the first time in six years, with October seeing the fastest pace of new orders seen since 2006.

It is no surprise that growth is returning to the Irish archaeology and construction sectors as confidence has begun to return to the economy with the stabilisation of the national finances and debt burden, the return of the economy to growth, the reduction in unemployment, and Ireland’s successful exit from the IMF-EU Bailout Programme. As a range of analysts including the Department of Finance, the ESRI, IBEC and the European Commission are forecasting that the Irish economy will continue to grow in 2014 the recovery in archaeological activity should continue.

I’d like to wish everyone who reads my blog a happy and peaceful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous new year!

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2013. Irish archaeology turns the corner in 2013. Charles Mount’s Blog, 19 December 2013. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1330

New data is good news for Irish archaeology indicating the decline in excavation is slowing.

Posted on by
Graph of excavation licences issued per quarter January 2012-April 2013.

Graph of excavation licences issued per quarter January 2012-April 2013.

New data suggests that the rate of decline in archaeological excavation in Ireland is slowing.
In the first quarter of 2013 to the 31 of March there were 112 excavation licenses issued by the National Monuments Service in the Republic of Ireland. This is a small reduction of 6.6% in the number issued in the same period in 2012. Although the total number of licences issued is still declining, the rate of decline is slowing. In my last post I noted that in 2012 the rate of decline in excavation licenses was running at more than twice the rate of the decline in construction output of 7.8%. This new data suggests that the rate of decline in archaeology is now tracking construction more closely. If this is the case we may entering a period of greater stability in the sector.

 

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2013. New data is good news for Irish archaeology indicating the decline in excavation is slowing. Charles Mount’s Blog, 4 April 2013. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1004

Continuing decline in Irish archaeological activity outstrips the decline in construction

Posted on by
Licences chart

Chart of the percentage decline in archaeological licences and building output by volume 2007-12.

In my last post I noted that archaeological excavation licences issued in the Republic of Ireland in 2012 had fallen by 18.6% from the number issued in 2011. I suggested that this indicated that both archaeological and related construction activity had continued to decline in 2012. This has now been confirmed by the publication by the Central Statistics Office of the provisional 2012 Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in all Building and Construction. This records a reduction of 7.8% in the volume of construction output for 2012. This indicates that while construction activity has declined for six consecutive years since 2006 the rate of decline is now slowing. A worrying trend is that the rate of decline in archaeological activity has barely slowed and is now running at more than twice the rate of the decline in construction activity. This may indicate that there are other factors causing the decline of archaeological activity other than just the aggregate decline in construction activity.

Next month I will be presenting the first results of the quarterly tracking of archaeological activity that was commenced in 2012. The current evidence is that these figures will indicate continuing decline in activity in the sector in the first quarter of 2013.

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2013. Continuing decline in Irish archaeological activity outstrips the decline in construction. The Charles Mount Blog, 22 March 2013. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=990

Excavation Licenses indicate continued reduction in archaeological and construction activity in 2012

Posted on by
Excavationlicences2000-2012

Excavation licences 2000-2012

 

Archaeological Licenses indicate that in 2012 archaeological activity in Ireland continued to contract for the sixth year reaching a fifteen year low.

Figures provided by the National Monuments Service indicate that the total number of archaeological excavation licenses issued for the year 2012 was 454. This is a reduction of 18.6% from the 558 licenses issued in 2011 and indicates that both archaeological investigations and the construction activity that they relate to continued their decline. This now represents a drop of 78% from the peak of archaeological activity in 2006. The level of activity is comparable to the year 1997 when 467 excavation licences were issued. As indicated in my December 2011 post on the topic excavation license and construction output show a high degree of correlation and it is anticipated that this almost 19% drop in archaeological activity will be mirrored by a similar drop in construction activity. In view of the current economic trends it is not clear when the decline in Irish construction and archaeological activity will stop. Current analysis would indicate that the trend will continue through 2013. I have been reporting the figures on a quarterly basis since the first quarter of 2012 and will be reporting changes in quarterly activity from March 2013.

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2012. Excavation Licenses indicate continued reduction in archaeological and construction activity in 2012. The Charles Mount Blog, 21 December 2012. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=974

Indicators suggest that archaeological and construction activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012.

Posted on by
Indicators suggest that archaeological and construction activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012.

Indicators suggest that archaeological and construction activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012.

At the end of the third quarter of 2012, 375 archaeological excavation licenses had been issued by the National Monuments Service. This represents just 67% of the 558 licenses issued in 2011. These quarterly results will not have analytical value until year on year comparisons can be made beginning in 2013, however, if this trend continues the number of licenses issued in 2012 will be at least 10% less than 2011. The continuing decline in archaeological activity is paralleled in the Irish construction industry. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Manager’s Index fell to 40.7 in August from 42.2 in July and 42.5 in June the fasted pace of decline since September 2011.

 

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2012. Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the third quarter of 2012. The Charles Mount Blog, 4 October 2012. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=960

Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the first half of 2012-revised. 9/07/12

Posted on by

 

Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the first half of 2012.Archaeological excavation licensing figures for the first half of 2012 suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline.

As of 30 June 2012, 230 archaeological excavation licenses had been issued by the National Monuments Service. This represents just 41% of the 558 licenses issued in 2011. The quarterly results will not have analytical value until year on year comparisons can be made beginning in 2013, however early indications are that archaeological activity in Ireland is continuing to decline. Corroborating evidence of the continued decline in construction and development activity in Ireland has been gathered by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF). The CIF forecast that just 7,500-8,000 houses will be built in Ireland in 2012. This represents a reduction of 25% on the number of houses built in 2011 and a 93% reduction on the number of houses built in 2006. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Manager’s Index fell to 42.5 in June from 46.3 in May. General weakness across the Irish economy is indicated by the Central Statistics Office Household Survey which shows that the number of people employed fell by 18,100 or 1% (seasonally adjusted to 0.4%) in the first quarter of 2012, with the second largest fall in the construction sector coming after the fall in employment in the hospitality sector. The construction sector has reduced from 267,000 employed in 2006 to just 103,100 employed today. The Central Statistics Office also notes that the unemployment rate has reached a new post-crash high of 14.9% in June.

Site this post as:

Mount, C. Indicators suggest that archaeological activity in Ireland continued to decline in the first half of 2012. The Charles Mount Blog, 9 July 2012. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=862

 

Excavation Licenses indicate continued reduction in archaeological and construction activity in 2011

Posted on by
Excavation licenses 2000-2011

Excavation licenses 2000-2011

Archaeological Licenses indicate that in 2011 archaeological activity in Ireland continued to contract for the fifth year.

Figures provided by the National Monuments Service indicate that the total number of archaeological excavation licenses issued for the year 2011 was 558. This is a reduction of 19.6% from the 694 licenses issued in 2010 and indicates that both archaeological investigations and the construction activity that they relate to have continued to decline. This represents a drop of 73% from the peak of archaeological activity in 2006. Continue reading →