The construction industry is limping into Christmas with contract awards stalling, hinting at a slower New Year to come, according to latest analysis by Barbour ABI.
That said, pre-holiday planning applications up in October potentially offering a ray of light. Data centres could also provide a boost for the industry in year ahead, the firm says.
According to Barbour ABI, the construction industry has posted a second consecutive month of falling contract awards in November. Awards values were down 35% that month following a 36% fall in October. This continues a trend set since the election with contract awards down 29% between Q3 and Q4.
The drop included a 36% drop in residential projects to £1.6bn. Meanwhile, although infrastructure awards increased in November, they still sat 64% down from the 2024 average and the month was the second worst since April 2023.
Notably, the North West had a poor November for awards dipping 54% from October and 24% from the 2024 average.
Ed Griffiths, Barbour ABI’s 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.”
However, the company says there was “one area of good news” heading into the holiday period 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 £8.3bn. This suggests companies are still looking to fill out their pipelines in 2025, the company says – as is usually the case at this time of year.
The North East recovered to above its two-year average after a disappointing few months. Much of this value comes from a £250m data centre application at Durham University – part of the data centre application rush that has been sweeping the UK in recent months.
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.”
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