THE building sector has been one of the hardest hit by the recession.

Most of the big construction firms made hundreds of people redundant while others simply collapsed overnight.

Bristol and the South West took more than its fair share of hits with big names such as ROK and Connaught falling apart.

According to one report this week, thousands more jobs are to go this year in the industry as a result of the recession.

According to the findings from CITB-ConstructionSkills, output is set to fall by three per cent, while growth will be "slow and uneven" for the next five years, with a four per cent increase in output expected in 2013, followed by falls up to 2016.

But talk to the housebuilders operating in Bristol and a very different view starts to emerge.

All the major companies are gearing themselves up for a busy year and are bullish about the market, despite the obvious problems with the economy.

As reported in the Evening Post, Taylor Wimpey has committed itself to a major scheme to build hundreds of homes on the site of the former Somerdale factory site in Keynsham.

And the company is convinced that buyers will invest in the scheme even though there are still serious issues with the mortgage market.

And other companies are eyeing up large parcels of land around Bristol.

The feeling is that the city is a place where people want to live and work and demand will always outstrip supply.

Alongside the traditional housing estates there is also demand for new housing schemes in both town and city centres.

The huge Finzels Reach development, the Bristol Eye on Temple Quay and the Harbourside, as well as Portishead marina, are all testament to the continuing demand for modern apartment living in and around Bristol.

In fact, the new housing market in Bristol is about to take off if the building companies are to be believed.

Barratt Homes has just announced it expects to launch nine new developments over the next 12 months, subject to planning permission, creating almost 900 new homes in the process.

Barratt says the increased activity will create 450 new jobs for local sub-contractors and tradesmen.

"The Prime Minister has said again and again that one of the best ways to boost economic growth and get people working is through building more homes," said sales director Andrea Pilgrim.

"We expect to launch nine new sites this year. These will provide 899 desperately needed new homes for local people at a time when there is a chronic shortage of housing."

Barratt's flagship Bristol development is The Zone, at Temple Quay, where the final building phase, called N10@The Zone, will have 131 one and two-bedroom apartments.

As a further indication of the health of the local new homes market, extra staff have been taken on at Barratt's The Meads site in Frampton Cotterell in order to speed up work on the site.

The South Gloucestershire development will now be finished in 18 months, instead of the predicted three years as a result of the demand from buyers.

Barratt has another development in the pipeline at Hanham. With homes, community facilities, green spaces and cycle routes, Hanham Hall is marketed as England's first large-scale zero carbon development, though its future was, until recently, hanging in the balance.

The development was saved late last year after councillors agreed to relax planning conditions which would have made the project unviable.

Around 178 new one-to-five bedroom homes will now be built with the original Hanham Hall, a Grade II* listed former NHS building, transformed as the centrepiece.

Barratt's big rival Taylor Wimpey is one of the most active home builders in the Bristol area, with three developments on the go at the moment and more planned.

One of its biggest successes story to date has been its complex of 184 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in the centre of the city, called Meridian, which sold out only 18 months after it launched, proving the demand for high quality new housing in the area.

The scheme in Cumberland Basin overlooks the Clifton Suspension Bridge and has proved to be hugely popular.

Richard Goad, regional sales and marketing director for Taylor Wimpey in Bristol, said: "It's fantastic to see these homes met with such enthusiasm, and for them to sell out in this short period of time is incredible.

"We knew Meridian would prove popular with its mix of luxurious apartments and excellent city centre location.

"It is just a shame that we didn't have more homes to meet the overwhelming demand."

Although it has come in for plenty of criticism there now just three apartments left at Crest Nicholson's Harbourside development.

And just this week the firm launched a new block of 68 flats at Port Marine in Portishead.

Bovis Homes is also busy and has nine sites in Bristol, including one of its flagship developments, the 2,200-home new community taking shape at Charlton Hayes near Filton.

"We are tremendously committed to building quality homes for Bristol and feel we have a real affinity with the area and its people," said South West Regional Sales Director Barry Cummins said: "We're delighted to have such a presence in the city, supplying much-needed new housing as well as boosting the local economy.

"The range of properties we are building and selling at the moment is wider than we have anywhere else in the UK. We offer our quality one and two-bedroom apartments that are ideal for first-time buyers but also have our exclusive 12-home development Cloister Gardens, at Sneyd Park, which includes the first homes we have ever built that have an asking price of more than £1,000,000.

"Our level of activity in Bristol shows the confidence we have in the city's housing market and the belief we have in the local economy."