Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Matt James runs fingerprint-recognition technology firm UKB Security »
James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Phil Renton is managing director of North East IT empire Croft »
Andrew Mernin is the Digital Journalist for nebusiness »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Formerly editor of a national business lifestyle magazine, Jez Davison is a business writer for the Evening Gazette in Teesside »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Shared Interest Staff at Newcastle's fair trade firm blog on their latest international missions »
PR man David Honeywell on raising your profile in the right places »
Marion Bernard is from NorthStar Equity Investors »
Caroline Theobald is the Managing Director of Bridge Club Ltd »
John Barton of Renew, on the region's low carbon and sustainable energy agenda »
Paul Williamson is Senior Partner at Deloitte »
Stephen Hall is Tax Partner at Deloitte »Just don't mention the idea of an economic recovery to those beleaguered souls in the construction industry.
Builders, surveyors, estate agents and property investors are united under a suffocating gloom caused by one of the worst slumps in living memory.
UK construction output fell by a whopping 9.1% in the first half of the year, with a subsequent third quarter decline of 1.1% miring the country deeper in the fog of recession.
Business failure rates in the sector rose by 63% in the year to July and those that managed to survive have had to shelve projects and shed jobs to prevent their business from turning to rubble.
Although housebuilders last week reported signs of an improving market, industry insiders say a sustained construction recovery could take years rather than months.
The industry is being sustained on a life-support machine of state-funded work.
Stripping away such projects - the development of affordable housing, for example - lays bare the full extent of the industry's problems.
For when the public purse strings are tightened - which they soon will be with national debt expected to rise to £175bn this year - where will the industry run to for its next dime?
The answer lies in lucrative infrastructure projects. As long as people live in homes, drive cars, work in offices and travel on roads, there will be work on the table for Teesside's skilled construction professionals.
The Government won't turn off the funding tap completely, with infrastructure high on the policy agenda, while private developers and maintenance firms should return to the market once they get their own houses in order.
This recession may even turn out to be the shock that the industry needs. KPMG's recently published global market survey claims that
construction firms are focusing more on cashflow, compliance and safety risks as they battle their way through the wreckage.
While the industry still needs to tackle a chronic skills shortage and an image defect caused mainly by cowboy fly-by-nights, it remains a long-term driver of economic growth.
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