A monthly snapshot of the UK construction industry covering contract awards, planning approvals, and applications by sector, featuring expert commentary and detailed data visualisations.
Overall contract awards increased by 16% in February to £7.6bn returning to strength after a softening in January.
Commercial & Retail awards have recovered 46% to £1.3bn, just above the 2025 H2 average. The largest award in the sector was the 70MW data centre at G Park 2 London Docklands with a shell & core value of £500m. The G Park Data Centres projects have featured as top contenders in our top construction project league tables.
Education had its best month since July 2025 increasing 59% to £750m with over £200m of the value coming from Birmingham Health Innovation Campus.
Hotel, Leisure & Sport increased 34% to £400m but remains below the 2025 year and 2025 Q1 average. However, this value is above the February value last year.
February showed a clear rebound in construction activity, with strength concentrated in Residential, Commercial, Education and major Infrastructure schemes. The market is increasingly driven by large‑scale regeneration, data‑centre demand, and energy‑transition projects such as HVDC cabling, all of which continue to attract investment despite wider economic uncertainty. Growth in residential awards reflects pent‑up demand for student accommodation and urban living, while commercial recovery is being supported by logistics‑led developments and digital infrastructure.
However, the picture is uneven. Industrial work has dipped sharply, highlighting sensitivity to high financing costs and subdued manufacturing output. Across the sector, contractors still face tight margins, supply‑chain volatility and prolonged planning timelines, which are slowing momentum in some regions. Overall, the main drivers remain as decarbonisation, digital capacity needs and long‑term regeneration, while the biggest challenges stem from cost pressures and inconsistent sector confidence.
Approvals ticked down 9% to £10.1bn but momentum remains strong with several large residential and mixed‑use schemes achieving consent. The continued progression of schemes exceeding £100 million demonstrates planning authorities’ commitment to advancing strategic housing and urban regeneration pipelines.
Commercial & Retail remained strong increasing 7% to £2.8bn with 3 Data Centres above £500m and a strong collection of London office developments.
Hotel, Leisure & Sport had another strong month with £850m of approvals, the highest value since January 2025. Scotland gets the top 3 approvals with a new £450m Centre Parcs near Hawick.
Medical & Healthcare saw the worst proportional dip this month falling to £70m, the lowest value since August last year. Only 11 projects were above £10m in value.
Residential approvals fell a significant 30% to £2.9bn after a particularly strong January and end to the year. Despite this fall, the month saw a good pipeline of projects with London and the North West leading.
The North West had its best month since September 2025, increasing 33% to £1.3bn. High value approvals in Residential and Infrastructure boosted the region with the largest project in the region being the Morecambe 480MW offshore windfarm.
Applications totalled £7.23bn in January 2026, marking a 29% decline from December (‑29.4%). While activity has eased from December’s exceptional spike, levels remain broadly in line with the late‑2025 baseline, reflecting seasonal softness rather than a structural downturn.
Hotel, Leisure & Sport jumped to £840m, delivering the largest positive swing of the month with a 106% increase. This surge signals continued buoyancy across hospitality, leisure and tourism assets, echoing the strong second half of 2025.
Commercial & Retail rose strongly to £1.1bn, a 90% increase month‑on‑month. This sharp rise reflects a cluster of major retail‑led regeneration and mixed‑use submissions entering the pipeline, suggesting renewed confidence in refurbishment and repurposing projects.
Medical & Healthcare dropped sharply to £700m, a 95% reduction following December’s unusual peak. This sector is characteristically spiky, often driven by the timing of major acute‑care, research‑facility and estate‑upgrade schemes.
The South West increased 78% to £710m mostly driven by Residential and Infrastructure projects. An application for Park Farm, Thornbury, Phase 3 – 386 Houses was the largest project in the region.
A monthly snapshot of the UK construction industry covering contract awards, planning approvals, and applications by sector, featuring expert commentary and detailed data visualizations.
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The Construction Industry Monthly Snapshot acts as a leading indicator of current and future activity in the construction industry. All values provided are at current prices, expressed in £bn unless stated otherwise and are non-seasonally adjusted.
The RSI is an index that measures current activity levels relative to
the last 5 years. It is presented on a scale of 0-100, where:
● 0 is no activity,
● 100 is the maximum possible activity, and
● 50 is the average level of activity.
The sectors that are included in the Construction Industry Monthly Snapshot are:
Our January edition of the snapshot features a review of the construction industry in 2025. This edition contains even more insight on the industry’s performance, including additional expert commentary, comprehensive data tables and concise visualisations.
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