Project starts and main contract awards in the three months to January both experienced declines against the previous year. More positively, detailed planning approvals performed slightly better.
Industrial overview
Totalling £1.05bn during the three months to January, underlying industrial work starting on-site (less than £100m in value) decreased 34 per cent against the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis to stand 45 per cent down on a year ago. Major projects (£100m or more) totalled £450m during the period, a 159 per cent increase on the preceding three months, but unchanged on the previous year. Overall, industrial project-starts fell 35 per cent against the preceding three months to stand 36 per cent down on a year ago, totalling £1.502bn.
Totalling £2.195bn, main contract awards increased 19 per cent against the preceding three months but stood 2 per cent down against last year. Underlying industrial main contract awards at £1.456bn, decreased 34 per cent (SA) against the preceding three months and by 19 per cent against a year ago. Major project contract awards totalled £740m during the period, a 64 per cent increase on the previous year and an increase on the preceding three months when no major projects reached the contract awarded stage.
Industrial detailed planning approvals continued a downward trend throughout the period and performed 42 per cent worse than the preceding three months, totalling £2.885bn. The value stayed the same as last year. Major projects totalled £840m, a 60 per cent decline on the preceding three months, but more than three times higher than the previous year. Underlying project approvals decreased by 23 per cent (SA) against the preceding three months and 22 per cent compared with a year ago, totalling £2.045bn.
Types of projects started
Manufacturing work starting on-site added up to £1.144bn, a 23 per cent fall compared with the previous year. Despite the decline, manufacturing still accounted for 76 per cent of industrial project-starts during the three months to January.
Warehousing & logistics project-starts decreased 64 per cent against the previous year to total £282m, accounting for 19 per cent of the sector. Other industrial projects fell 13 per cent against the previous year, which brought it down to a total of £76m and a 5 per cent share of the whole sector.
Regional
The North East accounted for 35 per cent of industrial work starting on-site during the three months to January, with the value adding up to £525m. Work starting on-site included the £450m development of a vehicle battery gigaplant for Nissan in Sunderland. The region had one of the smallest decreases (-7 per cent), along with Northern Ireland, which accounted for 2 per cent of the sector and totalled £25m. In contrast, project-starts in Yorkshire & the Humber jumped 151 per cent against the previous year to total £178m, a 12 per cent share of the sector. The biggest contributor to this growth was the commencement of a development of four warehouse units in West Yorkshire valued at £73m. Similarly, with a share of 12 per cent totalling £176m, project-starts in the North West also grew 17 per cent.
The East of England (-81 per cent) experienced the sharpest decline of any region, with project-starts totalling £61m to account for a 4 per cent share of sector starts. The South East also experienced a slump (-69 per cent) compared with the previous year to total £99m, accounting for 7 per cent of the sector. Despite decreasing 44 per cent against the preceding year, the East Midlands had one of the highest shares (11 per cent), totalling £163m. Project-starts in the East Midlands included a £71.2m industrial building development in Northamptonshire.
Most regions in the UK experienced a slow-down in industrial detailed planning approvals, but some areas showed impressive growth, including the North East where the value increased by more than 13 times when compared with a year ago to total £589m. The region accounted for the greatest share (20 per cent) of approvals and was boosted by the approval of a £200m lithium manufacturing plant in Middlesbrough and a £200m vaccine manufacturing facility in Billingham.
Yorkshire & the Humber experienced a 39 per cent decline compared with a year ago to total £328m, accounting for 11 per cent of the sector. Planning approvals in Wales were two times higher compared with the previous year at £82m, accounting for 3 per cent of approvals. In contrast, approvals in the Midlands dropped sharply, with the West decreasing 75 per cent and the East being 65 per cent lower than last year, totalling £77m and £148m respectively. Other regions that experienced a decline were the South East, East of England, Scotland and the North West.
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