The value of all construction contract awards fell by less than 5% to £5.7billion in 2020 despite the challenges that he year brought, according to the latest figures from Barbour ABI.
Meanwhile, figures issued this week by the Construction Products Association forecast a growth in output of 14% this year and 4.89% in 2022, despite its own calculations concluding a fall of 14%.
The Barbour report points to sectors in 2020 that experienced strong growth whilst others felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The infrastructure sector contract awards in 2020 were valued at £14.5 billion, an increase of 40% on 2019. A large increase in utilities and civil engineering projects contributed to the total, increasing by 61% and 54% respectively. The hotel, leisure and sport sector contract awards for 2020 was £3.1 billion which is a decline of 43% compared to 2019. This was largely due to a fall in arenas & stadia, and audience & exhibition centres, falling by 68% and 63% respectively.
However, most significantly the medical & healthcare sector saw an increase of 62% in 2020 compared to 2019 with a total value of contract awards at £2.0 billion.
The CPA points out that this third lockdown is a very different one for construction with most work now continuing with contracts and deadlines in place whilst house builders are keen to take advantage of robust demand in the housing market, buoyed by the Stamp Duty holiday and current iteration of Help to Buy.
