THE UK construction industry posted a second consecutive month of falling contract awards in November, according to the latest analysis by Barbour ABI.
Awards values were down 35% in November following a 36% fall in October.
The drop included a 36% fall in residential projects to £1.6 billion. Although infrastructure awards increased in November, they still sat 64% down from the 2024 average.
Ed Griffiths, Barbour ABI head of business and client analytics, said, “It has been another disappointing month for contract awards. All regions except the east of England were uneventful in November. The significant dip in residential awards does little to inspire confidence in the government’s drive to get Britain building.
“Infrastructure saw a small increase, but it is still struggling. We can only hope the government’s recent waving through of 150 major infrastructure projects will finally light a fire under the sector.”
There was one area of good news, with new planning applications up in October across all sectors. This was commensurate with a 26% overall increase in the value of applications against September at £8.3 billion, suggesting companies are still looking to fill out their pipelines in 2025.
Ed Griffiths added, “There is more positivity in the pipeline coming from applications, but with approvals down 26% as well, it is yet to be seen how many of these will make it through the planning process. Hopefully, with the government’s recent and renewed push on local councils and planning reforms we will start to see more projects come through the pipeline.
“Industry watchers should also keep an eye on data centre projects. There are a large number of projects in planning phase, and with the government designating them critical infrastructure this could become a huge driver for activity in 2025.”
