{"id":538383,"date":"2026-02-17T12:53:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=538383"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:53:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:53:48","slug":"construction-activity-fell-sharply-in-early-2026-glenigan-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/sections\/data\/construction-activity-fell-sharply-in-early-2026-glenigan-says-17-02-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction activity fell sharply in early\u202f2026, Glenigan says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UK construction industry entered 2026 with a sharp decline in activity due to the impact of a sluggish economy and low private investor confidence, according to data intelligence provider Glenigan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project starts decreased by 31 per cent over the three months to the end of January, the industry analyst\u2019s February report showed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planning approvals declined by 30 per cent compared with the previous three months, while the value of main contract awards dropped by 43 per cent from a year ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Glenigan attributed the poor results to slow demand and rising production costs at the back end of 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pressure on household incomes and a modest UK economy performance also affected the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Glenigan economic director Allan Wilen pointed to \u201chope on the horizon\u201d. <\/span>According to the latest Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) survey, the decline in construction activity has shown a gradual moderation.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe latest [CIPS] figures should inspire some optimism across certain quarters of the construction sector, particularly those involved in public works,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA handful of key schemes, including the hospitals programme, the schools building programme and a strong pipeline of infrastructure and utilities upgrades are set to kick-start UK construction out of neutral.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wilen added: \u201cOf course, an early interest rate cut would not only do wonders to restore dwindling consumer and business confidence, but also help get Britain building again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although most sectors showed an overall decline in activity, some recorded positive figures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In education, projects surged by 29 per cent surge year on year, with an 11 per cent increase in detailed planning approvals. But<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> main contract awards declined by 28 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the mixed picture, Glenigan hailed reasons for \u201coptimism\u201d in education driven by the \u00a32.4bn school rebuilding programme and additional funding to remedy unsafe RAAC material in existing buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The residential sector recorded a 24 per cent year-on-year decline in starts and a 33 per cent dip in contract awards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Glenigan said the industrial sector also showed a \u201cweak\u201d performance, with a 13 per cent decline in starts and 79 per cent fewer contract awards compared with last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industrial planning approval also decreased by 63 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Community and amenity delivered a relatively strong performance thanks to project starts surging by 125 per cent year on year and main contract awards increasing 22 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although project starts under \u00a3100m in the office sector grew during the reviewed periods, main contract awards and detailed planning approvals showed a decline during the three months to January.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In retail, no major projects over \u00a3100m reached any of the three stages in the development pipeline, Glenigan said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hotel and leisure project starts and main contract awards also declined both year on year and quarter on quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The health sector also saw a poor period in the three months to January.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK construction industry entered 2026 with a sharp decline in activity due to the impact of a sluggish economy and low private investor confidence, according to data intelligence provider Glenigan. Project starts decreased by 31 per cent over the three months to the end of January, the industry analyst\u2019s February report showed. Planning approvals &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158858,"featured_media":489789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78193],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-data"],"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>Construction activity fell sharply in early\u202f2026, Glenigan says | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UK construction industry entered 2026 with a sharp decline in activity due to the impact of a sluggish economy and low private investor confidence,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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