UK construction contract awards top £5 billion in July

Research from Barbour ABI has found that 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.

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.

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.”