The significant drop off in new construction projects started and value of work in place could be set to continue until at least the second quarter of 2010, according to one of the Island's top construction bosses.

Alex DeCouto, owner and president of Greymane Contracting Ltd., said he was still pessimistic about the overall performance of the industry for this year, with a dip in new developments and value of work in place in the third quarter of 2009 and that trend set to continue for the first half of 2010, with no potential big projects getting off the ground before then.

But he said that if tourism picks up it could fuel the construction industry with greater demand for more hotels to be built.

Mr. DeCouto said: "My hope is that there are a few developers out there that believe in Bermuda as a tourism destination and are willing to take a gamble that an investment in capital infrastructure here would be wise. Bermuda really needs some new product and to raise the bar with our tourism properties.

"That would result in additional choice for consumers, but also work for the industry, which is most certainly not going to come from the commercial office sector. Offices have been the fire behind the boom in the last 10 years and we are now definitely overstocked with office space."

The estimated value of work put in place for construction projects during the third quarter of 2009 was down 82 percent overall at $21 million, representing a 86.2 percent and 42 percent drop for the private and public sectors respectively. Hotels and guest-houses were hit hardest with a decline of 100 percent, while offices shops and warehouses were down 58.1 percent and residential developments dropped by 83.9 percent.

The value of new projects started over Q3 2009 also fell 91 percent at $11.6 million.

Mike Ewles, CEO and vice-president of BCM McAlpine Ltd., concurred with the view that 2010 was going to be a very bad year for construction.

Mr. Ewles said that an example of the trend was the fact that jobs starting this year would normally have been in the pipeline at least two years ago, but there were none in the offing at that time.

"I think it is going to be a year of consolidation and just trying to keep going in the industry," he said.

"I think the fact that there seems to be some bottoming out and recovery in the US economy is encouraging and at the end of the day whether it is getting more tourists or business from the US is only going to benefit us."