Construction near half in locked-down May
30th June 2020

The value of construction contract awards fell by nearly half in May as lockdown fear took its toll, according to the latest figures from Barbour ABI.

Total value was £2.4 billion based on a three-month rolling average, a decrease of 45.9% on April and 52.3% lower than May 2019. Contract awards numbers in May decreased by 16.2% to 263, approximately 73.8% below the recent high point of 1,003 recorded for February 2020.

The residential sector dominated the share of contract awards with a total of 31.4%. The largest project awarded for May was the Audley Square residential development valued at £250 million. Since reporting on contract awards in May, 14 of those projects have now confirmed to be on hold, at a total value of £63 million.

The total value of planning approvals has remained consistent throughout 2020 when looking at the three-month rolling value average, with May 2020 at 7,540, which is just 1.2% down on pre-lockdown figures in February 2020.

Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI and AMA Research said: “A continued decline in contract awards was expected for May and is in line with the Government lockdown guidelines. However, we anticipate a slight increase in contract awards for June as restrictions continue to be eased and hope that the strong planning pipeline will come to site sooner, rather than later, as the sector looks to bounce back post Covid-19.”