{"id":536866,"date":"2026-01-28T14:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=536866"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:16:44","slug":"uk-construction-activity-december-2025-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/cn-intelligence\/uk-construction-activity-december-2025-infrastructure-28-01-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"UK construction activity December 2025: Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"everviz-HsrxRqUMp\" class=\"everviz-HsrxRqUMp\"><script src=\"https:\/\/app.everviz.com\/inject\/HsrxRqUMp\/?v=18\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/div>\n<h3>Infrastructure overview<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Project starts declined 56 per cent year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>1 per cent rise in main contract awards year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>90 per cent rise in detailed planning approvals to the year-on-year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Civil Engineering experienced a mixed period in 2025, with project starts declining over the year while main contract awards edged up slightly and detailed planning approvals rose sharply. The strong uplift in approvals points to a significant boost to the development pipeline, suggesting that although delivery remained subdued, conditions are in place for a recovery in starts as schemes progress on-site.<\/p>\n<p>Growth is forecasted in 2026, as we anticipate a strong growth in electricity networks and renewables, as well as water industry investment programmes, helping support sector activity in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Civil Engineering project-starts rose 145 per cent during the three months to December. Main contract awards and detailed planning approvals declined 47 per cent and 66 per cent respectively.<\/p>\n<h3>2026 outlook<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>17 per cent growth in education starts forecasted in 2026<\/li>\n<li>Strong growth in electricity networks and renewables in 2026<\/li>\n<li>Water industry investment programmes gather momentum in 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Types of projects started<\/h3>\n<p>Performance across segments in the sector was poor, with four of seven sectors declining against the previous year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Roads, at \u00a38.696bn, accounted for the largest share of starts (42 per cent), increasing 138 per cent year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>Energy accounted for the second largest share of starts (22 per cent), but declined 81 per cent year-on-year to total \u00a34.689bn<\/li>\n<li>Harbour\/Ports increased 163 per cent year-on-year to total \u00a3953m<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Regional<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The East of England accounted for the largest share of sector starts, but declined year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>The South East accounted for the largest share and sharpest growth of sector approvals<\/li>\n<li>The East of England experienced sharp growth in approvals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At \u00a35.626bn, the East of England was the most active region for project starts, accounting for 27 per cent of the total. However, activity in the region fell sharply, declining 53 per cent year on year.<\/p>\n<p>The South East held the second-largest share of project starts in 2025 at 15 per cent, but also performed weakly, with values down 28 per cent compared with the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>In planning approvals, the South East led the market, accounting for 32 per cent of the total following a substantial 341 per cent year-on-year increase to \u00a317.786bn. The East of England recorded the joint second-largest share at 18 per cent, with approvals rising 104 per cent year on year to \u00a39.913bn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Infrastructure overview Project starts declined 56 per cent year-on-year 1 per cent rise in main contract awards year-on-year 90 per cent rise in detailed planning approvals to the year-on-year Civil Engineering experienced a mixed period in 2025, with project starts declining over the year while main contract awards edged up slightly and detailed planning approvals &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":472157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74630,74653,74646],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cn-intelligence","category-infrastructure","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: Infrastructure | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Infrastructure overview Project starts declined 56 per cent year-on-year 1 per cent rise in main contract awards year-on-year 90 per cent rise in detailed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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