Construction output up 5.6 per cent in 2022

Construction output increased by 5.6 per cent in 2022 but was flat by December, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data has revealed.

In Construction Output in Great Britain: December 2022, the ONS said total new orders decreased by 1.8 per cent – equivalent to £242m – in the final quarter of 2022 compared with the third quarter, mainly because private commercial new orders fell by 9.6 per cent (£380m) and infrastructure by 11.8 per cent (£305m).

The 5.6 per cent growth in 2022 was below the record post-pandemic increase of 12.8 per cent in 2021 and was driven by new work, as well as repair and maintenance, which rose by 3.8 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively.

“Excluding 2021, this is the strongest annual growth for repair and maintenance since records began,” the ONS said.

Monthly figures showed output was flat in December, when a 0.5 per cent increase in new work was offset by a decrease in repair and maintenance of 0.7 per cent.

Mark Robinson, chief executive of public sector procurement body Scape, said: “Uncertainty remains the dominant feeling among contractors attempting to plan for the year ahead, with few forecasts agreeing on the scale of the recession.”

Beard Construction finance director Fraser Johns said: “As predicted, and many firms prepared for, construction output continued to flatten into December as ongoing impacts from high interest rates and diminished confidence impacted new housing.”

He noted that the best-performing sectors had been infrastructure new work and non-housing repair and maintenance, “which certainly mirrors what we’re seeing and the projects we’re winning here at Beard”.

Mark Leeson, operations director at property and construction consultancy McBains, said the ONS figures “prove that the construction industry is still swimming against the tide in many work areas”.

Leeson said December’s cold weather had damaged output, but added that he felt that the fall in private new housing work reflected wider economic uncertainty.

“This trend is likely to get worse, with major volume housebuilders all warning this week they would be building fewer homes, as customers put off major purchase decisions amid the cost-of-living crisis,” he said.