Last month we wrote about house-building being on the rise, with The Planner reporting that in 2018, 370,000 new homes had received planning permission, the second highest annual total on record and over double the number being granted a decade ago.

So perhaps it comes as no surprise to hear that house-building now accounts for 60% of all new construction work. This week, the Construction Index reported that: Of the £5.0bn of new construction contracts recorded by the Builders’ Conference in May 2019, £3.0bn were in the house-building sector. By contrast there was just £69m of highways work awarded and £92m on the railways. Building work in the education sector was the second biggest category for new work, with £457m of contracts.

More than 440 companies picked up new contract awards during May 2019. The £5.0bn total value is a fall from the £6.0bn and £7.0bn recorded in recent months but is still up on the £4.5bn of work awarded in May 2018.

Such is the reliance of the UK construction industry on house-building work today that the top three companies in the May league table were all housebuilders – Galliford Try, Bellway and Redrow. Taylor Wimpey was in 6th place and Barratt Homes in 8th.

With house-building in general remaining buoyant, we’ve also seen a renewed emphasis on building more affordable homes, and back in April, we reported that council house building figures were at their highest in 17 years. We’ve also seen an upturn in construction activity in the regions.

With many analysts predicting that house-building will continue to drive growth in the construction sector in 2019, we’ll continue to bring you the emerging trends and figures.

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