Growth trend continues as contract award values increase by 9.1% in November

The value of all construction contract awards in November 2019 was £5.4bn based on a three-month rolling average, which is an increase of 9.1% on October, and an increase of 20.2% when compared with November 2018.

The number of contract awards decreased by 1.0% in November to 855 which is also 3.8% lower than for November 2018. The leading region for construction contract awards in November was London which accounted for 17.6% of all contract awards.

The south east was the second largest region this month with attributable share of 14.7% and was followed by the north west which accounted for 12.9% of all contract awards.

The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain.

The residential sector was the largest in terms of contract awards in November with share of 38.1% which compares to just 28.0% share of awards in October. The commercial & retail sector was the second largest this month with attributable share of 18.2%, benefiting from some larger-scale office developments. Accounting for 15.9% of all construction contract awards this month the infrastructure sector managed to secure third place.

The largest value contract award for November was the £156.5m White City Place, at Shepherds Bush in London. The project will involve the construction of three structures to provide a new office space.

Commenting on the figures, Tom Hall, chief economist at Barbour ABI and AMA Research said: “We continue to see an upwards trend in contract awards value following on from lower levels in August and September of this year. As a result of the General Election the outlook may shift with the differing party policies.”

Download the full report here.