Media Centre

Welcome to our news section:

• This is where you will find all the latest information about our ever changing business. Simply take a look at our latest stories below, if you want to share any comments about our news, please email us at anne.kelly@barbour-abi.com

PRESS RELEASE - 28th August 2009

Increasing optimism within the construction industry says Barbour ABI

Barbour ABI's latest analysis of planning application volumes indicates returning confidence about the future within the construction market. Over the past few months, there has been a notable increase in the number of planning applications submitted to Local Authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.

When comparing figures for May, June and July to the previous three months, planning application numbers have increased by 10.6%. It’s also worth noting that 51,879 applications were submitted this July – the highest level since July 2008.

Barbour ABI is the only company to report on every new building project in the UK, enhancing and tracking planning application and public tender information. Our core business is utilising our construction contracts database to supply industry professionals with analysis and construction project leads for future planned work.

Adam Valentine, Research Director, says: “These figures indicate that more work is likely to be available to all involved in the construction industry over the next two years than was thought at any point during the last 12 months. We are seeing steady growth in application numbers and in July the highest number of submissions were recorded since this time last year. Combine this with other recent indicators and it seems that while there is still a long way to go to return to previous levels, modest increases in construction work opportunities will be welcomed by all.”

PRESS RELEASE - 6th August 2008

ABI launches Evolution extras to deliver leads to the construction industry

Barbour ABI are proud to announce the launch of further services to boost our online offering. Evolution which was introduced earlier this year has now evolved to incorporate a new marketing feature called List Track and advanced services for larger split-territory sales teams with the Management Pack.

By tracking projects from concept to completion, we ensure our clients always get value added data for their subscription, and by reporting on 100% of planning applications, even for smaller domestic projects, we offer the best coverage of planned work available.

Users already benefit from being able to share notes across their organisation about each project they have worked, as well as set watches on particular projects or companies of interest to keep them alerted to latest developments. But now they can also keep track of who they have mailed or called using our revolutionary List Track feature and using our Management Pack, they can track and manage their usage of the service to ensure they are getting the most out of their subscription.

David Andrew, Director, says: “From user feedback already received we know that these new modules will play a central role in the sales and marketing activities of our clients. We’re really pleased that the investment into our key services in recent months is translating into such a powerful and time-saving set of genuinely value-adding features for customers”.

Our investment into new and existing products, underlines our commitment to both new and existing clients to go above and beyond there expectations.

Mark Terry from Howarth Timber has been a client of ours for 15 years, he says: “To date, Barbour ABI have helped us generate a substantial amount of new business, somewhere in the region of £500k.”

“Your Evolution product in particular has made a resounding difference to our marketing strategy. It’s flexibility to help us access targeted data to reach our niche market is a major asset for us. Evolution is the best system in the marketplace today by a country mile!”.