A BELFAST firm that has won a contract to develop a £40 million leisure complex, including the North’s first Olympic-sized swimming pool, says it could generate more than 200 construction jobs in Northern Ireland.

Farrans Construction, which is part of CRH, said the contract win for the new Bangor pool project would deliver a major boost for the construction industry by both sustaining existing jobs within the firm and creating work for local tradesmen.

The publicly funded project, which is being promoted by North Down Borough Council, has secured £15 million of finance from the Northern Ireland Executive.

Work is expected to start on the site at the end of this month, delivering a timely boost for the North’s severely depressed construction sector.

Latest industry research published this week suggests work levels in the local construction market have fallen to a 10-year low.

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors construction market survey shows that the industry in the North saw further contraction in the second quarter of the year.

Northern Ireland had more chartered surveyors reporting a slowdown in workloads compared to anywhere else in the UK.

Surveyors who took part in the survey blamed public spending cuts as a key reason for the continued downturn. The majority also believe that their workloads will decline further in the next 12 months.

Jim Sammon, the institution’s Northern Ireland spokesman, said there was little doubt that significantly lower public spending was a major factor depressing the local construction industry which he said was public sector-driven.

“Whilst the enormous pressure on the public finances means that cuts are unavoidable, the importance of construction spend to the Northern Ireland economy and the need to invest in our infrastructure for long-term competitiveness must be taken into consideration in spending decisions,” Mr Sammon added.

According to the North’s Construction Employers’ Federation, every £1 invested in construction generates £2.84 in economic activity. The surveyors’ body is warning that if the Northern Ireland Executive is not prepared to make the necessary investment in the North’s infrastructure, the economy will continue to suffer well into the future.

“We strongly believe that it is in the public interest to continue to prioritise public construction spending, both to ensure our society has the infrastructure it needs, and because of the high economic return investment in construction brings,” Mr Sammon said.