Infrastructure sector grows by 18.5% in January

The value of infrastructure contract awards was £1.5bn during January 2019 – an 18.5% increase on December 2018. Whilst the infrastructure sector remains open to considerable volatility in monthly contract award values, the sector has remained relatively robust over the last two years with contract awards consistently above the £500m threshold.

The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain. This month it shows the total value of construction contracts awarded in January 2019 was £5.5bn which is 9.9% higher than December 2018 figures.

Looking at how these contracts were awarded across the sectors, the residential sector was the largest in January 2019 with a 28% share, followed by infrastructure with a 21% share and the commercial & retail sector with a 20% share.

The largest contract awarded in January was the £400m Paddington Cube in Paddington Square, London within the commercial & retail sector. This development covers 49,676 sq m of office and retail space and was awarded to Mace Limited.

The second largest contract awarded was within the hotel, leisure & sport sector for the Manchester Town Hall redevelopment valued at £330 million and Hinkley Point C Connection Project was the third largest contract awarded to provide an overhead power line to connect Hinkley with substations in Bridgwater and Avonmouth. This has been valued at £214m and was awarded to Balfour Beatty.