The picture painted by Glenigan鈥檚 June review is of project sizes getting smaller.
Major project-starts 鈥� projects costing more than 拢100m 鈥� were down 32% in the three months to May 2022 compared to the previous three months, and down 31% against March-May 2021.
Sub-拢100m starts were up 9% on the previous three months, which according to Glenigan indicates that the sector is recovering from a gloomy winter.
The overall value of work starting on site each month averaged 拢6.54bn during the three months to May, which was 5% down on the preceding three months and 22% down on the year.
Main contract awards (+1%) and detailed planning approvals (+13%) were up compared to the preceding three months 鈥� by 1% and 13% respectively 鈥� but were down 18% and 5% year-on-year.
Glenigan economic director Allan Wilen said: 鈥淭he slight uptick in project-starts reported in this June Review points to promising signs of recovery for the sector, news which is sure to be welcomed by industry professionals after a challenging few months.
鈥淐onstruction has suffered delayed project-starts and planning approvals for almost a year as the industry has been squeezed by rising material costs, labour shortages and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war.
鈥淚 am hopeful that the offshoots of recovery highlighted here signal a promising outlook for the second half of 2022, particularly as the sector continues to reap the rewards of a strong development pipeline of contract awards built up since the pandemic.
鈥淲e鈥檙e certainly not out of the woods yet, but I remain cautiously optimistic for the rest of the year if this upward trend continues.鈥�
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