A monthly snapshot of the UK construction industry covering contract awards, planning approvals, and applications by sector, featuring expert commentary and detailed data visualisations.
Previously available as a downloadable PDF, our Construction Industry Monthly Snapshot is now published directly on our website. This change makes the report easier to access, share, and revisit — no downloads or subscriptions required.
Accessible anytime, the Construction Industry Monthly Snapshot offers a more seamless and interactive experience – keeping you closely connected to the insights that matter most.
Medical & Healthcare saw a huge increase of 350% to £840m, its strongest month in over 18 months. However, the majority of this value comes from the £670m Cambridge Children’s hospital.
Commercial & Retail had another postiive month, increasing again to £1.4bn. Two projects in London and the South East sit at over £500m each with one being the Saunderton Data Centre development.
Industrial increased 30% to a strong £880m with £200m coming from a Fujifilm manufacturing facility.
A mostly positive month for contract awards with Commercial & Retail being especially strong with continued focus on data centres and a significant investment in London offices. The top 3 projects total over £1.1bn. Infrastructure remained strong from last month but a large amount of value came from a single project with less value coming from Green energy and battery storage. Residential awards were subdued this month with a lack of confidence in the sector due to the viability of sites, delays and a lack of consumer confidence due to continued economic pressure. Despite strong new orders this month, concerns remain around project delivery. Delays due to regulatory bloat, particularly the Building Safety Regulator, combined with the skilled labour shortage and increased costs from materials and the planning process.
Commercial & Retail saw the largest proportional fall from July, decreasing 74% to £400m, the lowest value in over 18 months.
Hotel, Leisure & Sport decreased after a positive July, falling 74% to £130m.
Residential approvals saw their worst month in over 18 months decreasing to £2.2bn. The sector had 3 projects valued at over £100m, all of which were in London.
Infrastructure had its worst month in 2025 after a relatively positive half to the year. The sector sits at a disappointing £2.1bn.
The East Midlands was the only region in growth, increasing 16% to £500m. The largest project this month was a £120m battery storage system in Lincolnshire.
All sectors except Medical & Healthcare performed poorly on the previous months value.
Medical & Healthcare recovered well from a poor previous two months to reach £150m. However, over one-third of this value comes from the Llantrisant Health Park in Wales.
Commercial & Retail saw the biggest proportional dip this month after a good recovery last month, now sitting at £510m. The largest project in the sector was the £100m CIS Tower – Office Refurbishment in Manchester.
Scotland saw a downturn of 59% from the previous month after a strong performing first half of 2025.
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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We’ve made it easy to access recent insights. You can instantly download the last three editions of our Construction Industry Snapshot as a handy Excel file below.
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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 2024. 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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