Construction contracts on the rise
THE level of construction contracts awarded in September rose 5.8% to £5.6bn, new resesarch reveals.
Cheshire Oaks-based Barbour ABI, which provides of construction data to the Office for National Statistics and the government, has published its latest Economic & Construction Market Review revealing that the total value of new contracts awarded in September saw solid growth with a balance of work across all sectors.
September was the best month for construction contracts since January, the firm said.
Unlike recent months, where residential construction has dominated the proportion of new contracts awarded, there was more of an even split across key sectors. Residential accounted for 24%, followed infrastructure (23%), commercial & retail (22%) and education (14%).
Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said: “The figures will give a huge boost to the construction industry, particularly those in the education sector, which is celebrating its highest level of new contracts awarded in two years.
“Over recent months, it has become clear that the industry cannot only rely on the residential sector to instigate long-term growth – other key sectors such as commercial and infrastructure need to improve to make the recovery more resilient.
“While infrastructure is still performing poorly compared to pre-recession levels, today’s report appears to indicate a widening of construction activity with growth more evenly spread. With recent forecasts from the Construction Products Association also predicting 23% growth by the end of 2018, this positive news looks set to continue.”
The report shows that London and Scotland were the hotspots for the value of construction contracts awarded in September, accounting for 24% and 21% the UK total respectively.
