Construction statistics show strength & resilience of industry                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

We’re all aware of how challenging the last 2 - 3 years have been on almost all sectors & industries, and none so much as the construction industry, which has been subject to a number of complications and changes still affecting businesses to this day; rising construction costs, shortages of materials, shifts in approaches to working being just some of the challenges those working in construction have had to navigate since 2020.

Alongside this, however, there have been many indicators of, not only recovery, but also the ongoing strength & resilience of the construction industry during these difficult and unpredictable times, where these indicators can be clearly seen in the newest statistics released in Construction News, providing a promising overview of the industry during the final quarter of 2022.

An overview of construction stats

Looking at the industry as a whole for Q4 of 2022, there really is a ‘mixed bag’ of increasing and decreasing numbers; with some areas falling in comparison to the previous quarter or year, and others significantly up.

For example, work commencing on-site during Q4 of 2022 fell by 48% against the previous quarter. This, however, is largely due to major projects (upwards of £100 million) falling by 80% against Q3 of the same year.

Detailed planning approvals, on the other hand, increased by 2% on Q3 and 5% on Q4 of 2021.

Alongside this, major contract awards fell by 13% against Q3 yet the overall value of those awards increased by 32% on the same period in 2021, to the value of £3.202 billion per month.

Infrastructure specific statistics

Looking at the statistics gathered in Q4 of 2022, relating specifically to infrastructure where our work in the construction industry is categorised, we can see some extremely interesting data emerging -

Although civil engineering work started on-site during Q4 fell by a mammoth 83% against the previous quarter and by 59% when compared to Q4 of 2021, and major contract awards fell by 8% on Q3, detailed planning approvals improved by 15% on Q3 and 111% on 2021, reaching £4.872 billion. It's important to note within this that this increase is considered to be due much in part to an increase in major project approvals which increased by 13% and 242% on the preceding quarter and year, respectively.

What Q4 2022 construction stats are telling us

Undeniably, there are many areas where the construction industry was down in Q4 of 2022 when directly compared to either the previous quarter or period during the previous year; on-site starts considerably down across the board, for example.

However, major project awards and detailed planning approval, without doubt, enjoyed quite a surge in uptake in comparison to the previous quarter and year, showing that big things are coming for construction and, specifically, civil engineering (infrastructure), with projects valued at anywhere over £100 million dominating the industry’s future.