In April 2021, contract awards increased by 58% compared to March to £9.1bn. This level of activity was last seen in January 2020.
The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain.
Sector analysis shows that residential contract awards increase again in April to £2.5 billion, up from £2.0 billion in March. A strong performance for infrastructure, with total value of contract awards reaching £2.1 billion, the first monthly value over £2.0 billion since January 2020. And the industrial sector activity sees the second highest monthly value on record of £1.2 billion in April, driven once again by warehousing.
Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI and AMA Research said: “Building on the improvements in the planning environment we reported in March, April saw a bumper month for contract awards of £9.1bn. This is the highest value since January last year.
“All sectors apart from healthcare saw sizeable monthly increases to well above their long-term average values, particularly the infrastructure and commercial sectors.
“A year on from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we have finally seen a value that starts to recover some of the lost ground. However, a fall in April’s planning approvals back to previous levels seen over the second half of 2020 may demonstrate that the uncertainty plaguing the sector has not fully cleared.
“We require a sustained increase over a period of time to fill the weak construction pipeline.”
