UK August construction projects increased by 20%

The value of new contracts awarded reached 5.8 billion based on a 3 month moving average, resulting in a 7% increase on the month and the highest recorded figure since March of this year.

The figures have been published in the latest addition of the Economic and Construction market review from Barbour ABI, and have come as a welcome boost for the industry in what is normally a slow month.

Residential construction performed strongly – bringing in 2.7 billion in the month. This helped the overall monthly construction figure gain a 20% increase on the month, up 15% from August 2016.

Commercial and retail building reached 785 million in August, a monthly increase of 47%.

London gained 20% of the UKs construction contract value, followed by the North West with 14%.

The number of construction projects awarded in August increased by 19.7% compared to July, and the value of residential projects in August was 2.7 billion, a year increase of 55.2%.

Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI said “The construction sector can once again be thankful for the strong showing of the residential sector, which provided £1.8 billion more than any other sector in August, along with an increase of 55 per cent compared with August 2016.”

“It is encouraging to see the number of projects increasing steadily, particularly the larger projects from the commercial and retail sector. However a lack of investment in infrastructure across August and for the most part of 2017 is not encouraging, as we haven’t seen many major projects come to fruition, especially after it was highlighted as a Government priority earlier in the year.”