{"id":536857,"date":"2026-01-28T14:16:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=536857"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:16:53","slug":"uk-construction-activity-december-2025-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/cn-intelligence\/uk-construction-activity-december-2025-health-28-01-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"UK construction activity December 2025: Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"everviz-7BAOU7rqC\" class=\"everviz-7BAOU7rqC\"><script src=\"https:\/\/app.everviz.com\/inject\/7BAOU7rqC\/?v=18\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/div>\n<h3>Health overview<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>21 per cent decline in project starts year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>9 per cent decline in main contract awards year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>63 per cent decrease in detailed planning approvals to the year-on-year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The UK health construction sector mirrored wider market trends in 2025, with project starts, planning approvals and contract awards all declining compared with 2024. Activity was constrained by continued pressure on public finances, delays in capital funding decisions and ongoing cost inflation, which limited the progression of new schemes across the healthcare sector.<\/p>\n<p>While essential maintenance and smaller-scale projects provided some support, overall activity levels weakened. Despite the poor performance in 2025 activity is forecasted to rise in 2026 as major schemes such as the New Hospital Programme are set to support sector activity in the future. Health approvals rose 8 per cent in the three months to December, whereas project-starts and main contract awards declined.<\/p>\n<h3>2026 outlook<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>4 per cent growth in healthcare starts forecasted in 2026<\/li>\n<li>Major schemes such as the New Hospital Programme are set to support sector activity<\/li>\n<li>The \u00a3220m development of the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital is set to kick off this year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Types of projects started<\/h3>\n<p>Performance across the sector was mixed, with two of four segments rising year-on-year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hospitals accounted for the largest share (38 per cent), but declined 27 per cent year-on-year to total \u00a31.536bn<\/li>\n<li>Totalling \u00a3 310m, the value of Dental, Health &amp; Veterinary Centres\/ Surgeries starting on site declined 54 per cent year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>Nursing Homes &amp; Hospices experienced a 12 per cent rise year-on-year to total \u00a3865m, a 21 per cent share of the total value<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Regional<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The South East accounted for the largest share of project-starts, but performed poorly year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>Yorkshire &amp; the Humber experienced a sharp rise in project approvals year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>The East of England accounted for the largest share of approvals but declined year-on-year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The South East at \u00a3803m was the most active region for project starts, accounting for 20 per cent of the total, with the region declining 26 per cent year-on-year. London at \u00a3559m accounted for the second largest share (14 per cent), with the capital declining 46 per cent year-on-year. Northern Ireland at \u00a3443m was a relative bright spot, rising 521 per cent year-on-year to account for 11 per cent of the total value.<\/p>\n<p>The East of England accounted for the largest share of planning approvals (20 per cent), but declined 72 per cent against 2024. Yorkshire &amp; the Humber accounted for the second largest share of approvals (18 per cent), rising 149 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health overview 21 per cent decline in project starts year-on-year 9 per cent decline in main contract awards year-on-year 63 per cent decrease in detailed planning approvals to the year-on-year The UK health construction sector mirrored wider market trends in 2025, with project starts, planning approvals and contract awards all declining compared with 2024. Activity &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":472161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74630,74649,74646],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cn-intelligence","category-health","category-sector"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UK construction activity December 2025: Health | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health overview 21 per cent decline in project starts year-on-year 9 per cent decline in main contract awards year-on-year 63 per cent decrease in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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