Infrastructure construction reached a record low, while residential constrution continued to perform strongly – according to the latest Barbour ABI survey.
Residential housing continues to dominate the construction sector and across March had a total contract value of £2.4 billion, its highest figure for seven months – according to the the latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI.
The total value of new construction contracts in March reached £5.3 billion, a monthly increase of 8.7%. However the overall positivity cannot be shared across all sectors of construction, as infrastructure figures reached their lowest point in March since Barbour ABI began tracking the series.
The two biggest projects by value in March were both residential developments, including the Longridge neighbourhood centre which includes 256 houses and valued at over £160 million. There was a distinct lack of infrastructure projects across the top ten biggest projects by value in March, with the sole development the £45 million enabling works of Phase 2 for Pinewood Studios, awarded to Sir Robert McAlpine.
Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI, said: “The continuous decline of infrastructure construction contracts and in particular big ticket infrastructure projects will not help to repair the sliding confidence across the industry, which is masking better growth across the other sectors of the industry, in particular the encouraging figures coming from medical and health construction and the strong growth from residential construction.”
