In April 2021, contract awards increased by 58% compared to March to £9.1bn. This level of activity was last seen in January 2020.

The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain.

Sector analysis shows that residential contract awards increased again in April to £2.5bn, up from £2.0bn in March. A strong performance for infrastructure, with total value of contract awards reaching £2.1bn, the first monthly value over £2.0bn since January 2020. The industrial sector activity saw the second highest monthly value on record of £1.2bn in April, driven once again by warehousing.

Commenting on the figures, Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI and AMA Research said: “Building on the improvements in the planning environment we reported in March, April saw a bumper month for contract awards of £9.1bn. This is the highest value since January last year. All sectors apart from healthcare saw sizeable monthly increases to well above their long-term average values, particularly the infrastructure and commercial sectors.

A year on from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic we have finally seen a value that starts to recover some of the lost ground. However, a fall in April’s planning approvals back to previous levels seen over the second half of 2020 may demonstrate that the uncertainty plaguing the sector has not fully cleared. We require a sustained increase over a period of time to fill the weak construction pipeline.”

Download the full report here.