Construction contract awards are up

The value of all construction contract awards in July 2019 was £5.1 billion based on a three-month rolling average, which is a slight decrease of 1.8% on June.

However, yearly comparisons indicate that contract awards values in July 2019 were 11.0% higher than July 2018. In the three-month period ending July 2019, total construction contract awards were valued at £15.3 billion, which is an increase of 14% on the previous quarter and 13.8% higher than for the comparable quarter ending July 2018.

The number of contract awards in July was 1,011, which is an increase of 38.5% on June and is also 3.7% higher than July 2018. Regional analysis shows that London was the leading region for contract awards in June with a 32.1% value share.

The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain. Analysis by sector shows that the largest share of contract awards in July was held by the residential sector at 39.9%. Commercial and retail was the second largest sector this month with 16.0% of contract awards and was followed by the industrial sector with a share of 13.6%.

London was the largest region in July and was also the location for the 3 largest contract awards. The largest contract award for the month was in Southwark and was the Stoney Street Commercial and Office development which is part of the Borough Yards redevelopment and is valued at £300 million. Wandsworth was the location for the second largest contract award and was Nine Elms Plots B & D - valued at £276.4 million. The third largest contract award was also in the residential sector and was the £240 million fit-out contract for the Old War Office in Whitehall.

Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI said, “The planning pipeline continues to defy recent negative economic news. We have seen significant activity for contact awards across the UK for the past three months, with a 13.8% increase on the comparable quarter ending July 2018. Over the next three months, we will be rolling steadily towards the Brexit deadline which may impact figures as uncertainty once again sets in.”