{ "query": "UK construction industry cost and schedule trends May 2026 NEC contracts UK steel sector benchmarks", "raw_results": [ { "url": "https://asd.ltd/construction-trends-2026/", "title": "Construction Industry Trends 2026 - ASD Limited", "content": "ASD\n\nThe UK's Leading Metal and Steel Supplier\n\n# Construction Industry Trends 2026\n\nConstruction trends 2026\n\nThe UK construction sector is preparing for a better year ahead. After a challenging 2025, industry analysts are expecting growth to return in 2026 and 2027. Private housebuilding is showing signs of recovery, and commercial office developments continue to gain momentum. That said, rising employment costs from the Autumn Budget – higher minimum wage and National Insurance contributions, will undoubtedly add pressure to already tight margins. [...] Furthermore, adaptive re-use of existing building stock, via structural alterations to the existing frame, along with vertical and horizontal extensions, is a prominent feature of the commercial office sector, and this will continue to grow in 2026.\n\n### The Circular Economy Gains Influence\n\nCircular economy principles are becoming more prominent across UK construction as the industry moves closer to its net-zero commitments. The focus is shifting away from linear, single-use material consumption towards approaches that maximise the lifespan of resources, support reuse and recycling, and minimise waste. This shift not only aligns with sustainability goals but also helps clients manage costs and improve asset value over a building’s full lifecycle. [...] Lightweight cellular beams, engineered timber, recycled steel, and emerging low-carbon concrete mixes are becoming more visible across projects, reflecting a broader shift toward circular and resource-efficient construction. The specification of lower upfront embodied carbon EAF steel continues to be a strategy on commercial schemes.\n\nThe drive to deliver greener outcomes is also accelerating the use of modular and prefabricated components, which help reduce waste and improve build efficiency. At the same time, retrofitting is gaining more prominence. Upgrading insulation, heating systems, and glazing in older buildings often delivers significant carbon savings while avoiding the environmental costs associated with new construction.", "score": 0.7923522, "raw_content": null }, { "url": "https://archdesk.com/blog/2026-state-of-the-uk-construction-industry", "title": "2026 State of the UK Construction Industry | Archdesk", "content": "Tender risk in 2026 sits in programme reality, not in your measured works rates. Lead times for key building components still drive start dates and sequencing. A 2025 industry benchmark from BCIS put typical lead times at 14 to 18 weeks for structural steel and curtain walling. If your tender programme assumes 10 weeks and you do not qualify it, you carry the acceleration and out-of-sequence cost. State assumed lead times for your top ten long-lead items in the tender return. Tie them to the order dates you need from the client.\n\n14–18 wks\n\nTypical lead times for structural steel and curtain walling (BCIS, Q4 2025)\n\n12%–16%\n\nTypical prelims share on £5m–£20m jobs (RICS Contracts in Use, 2024)\n\n18%\n\nPrelims seen on complex fit-out and structural packages (2025 market norm in bid reviews) [...] | Prelims weekly burn | Supervision, welfare, logistics, temp works | Wage and compliance costs sit inside prelims. Delay now costs more per week. | BCIS, late 2025: prelims allowances in winning bids up 6% to 8% YoY |\n| Variation exposure | JCT and NEC change pricing using tender rates | Tender rates are often 12 to 18 months old when the work lands. Wage drift sits inside “fixed” rates. | RICS Contracts in Use: fewer than 30% of sub-£20m jobs include fluctuation clauses | [...] Repair and maintenance (R&M) has grown as a share of output, to about 38% in ONS data. Many teams treat R&M as safer because jobs are smaller and repeatable. Commercially, it bites in a different way. R&M generates more instructions and small changes, so you get more chances to miss notice periods under JCT or NEC contracts. That is margin leakage, not a site performance issue. Weekly cost-to-complete and a weekly variation review stops the slow bleed, because you catch it while the labour and plant decisions are still changeable.\n\nPRIVATE HOUSING\n\nProtect cash and workload\n\nRun pipeline off starts and sales rates. Keep a short labour look-ahead. Don’t carry overheads sized for 2022 volumes.\n\nINFRASTRUCTURE\n\nProtect entitlement and resourcing", "score": 0.6698534, "raw_content": null }, { "url": "https://www.arcadis.com/en-gb/insights/perspectives/europe/united-kingdom/uk-construction-market-view-spring-2026", "title": "UK Construction Market Outlook Spring 2026 - Arcadis", "content": "The Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market View examines the forces shaping the UK construction market, from shifts in sector performance and regional activity to emerging cost pressures and long-term infrastructure investment.\n\n## UK construction industry trends, growth, and inflation insights\n\nThe Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market View provides a data-driven perspective on the forces shaping the UK construction sector. The report combines market research and analysis, sector insights, and forward-looking forecasts to help industry leaders navigate an uncertain recovery.\n\nConstruction growth and sector performance analysis—how residential, commercial, infrastructure, and public sectors are diverging in a two-speed recovery. [...] ## What the latest UK construction forecast means for 2026\n\nThe UK construction sector may be approaching the bottom of the current cycle, but a sustained recovery remains uncertain. While the pipeline of future work is growing, affordability pressures, regulatory hurdles, and delayed investment decisions continue to slow project delivery.\n\nFor clients and contractors, this creates a narrow window where labour availability and competitive tender conditions may work in their favour—before cost pressures and market demand begin to rise again.\n\nThe Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market Viewexplores what these trends mean for construction growth, costs, and sector performance in the year ahead.\n\n### Get the full UK Market View – Spring 2026 UK Construction Market View Review our report now! [...] Download report (4.53 MB)\n\n## UK Market View Archive\n\nArcadis downloads download\\_items\n\n## Stay ahead of UK construction sector trends\n\nConstruction markets are evolving quickly. From shifts in the construction pipeline and infrastructure investment to changes in labour availability and material and energy costs, industry conditions can change rapidly from quarter to quarter. Staying informed is essential for organisations planning projects, managing risk, and making investment decisions.", "score": 0.5321097, "raw_content": null }, { "url": "https://atradiuscollections.com/global/knowledge-and-research/reports/industry-trends-metals-and-steel-march-2026", "title": "Industry trends metals and steel March 2026 - Atradius Collections", "content": "Nicola Harris\n\nSenior Underwriter Atradius United Kingdom\n\nIn addition, metals and steel manufacturers and suppliers continue to face unrelenting higher input costs including wages and high debt servicing fees. There is no expectation for significant demand recovery in the near-term. An exception are niche markets such as aerospace alloys and battery metals.\n\nFailures of metals and steel businesses were above historic levels during 2024. These insolvencies were concentrated primarily in the fabricated metals sub-sector. While there was a decrease in 2025, we expect the number of metals and steel insolvencies to remain elevated in 2026. [...] The credit risk situation of the German metals and steel industry remains strained. Subdued demand, energy costs, and low sales prices have deteriorated margins\n In the UK, metals and steel manufacturers and suppliers continue to face low demand, high input costs including wages and high debt servicing fees [...] Margins of metals and steel businesses have deteriorated in 2025 and are likely to remain under pressure this year due to modest demand, still elevated energy and borrowing costs, and higher raw materials, shipping, and labour costs.\n\nCredit risk in the industry remains high. We are observing longer payment terms and several requests for payment plans, in particular by weaker companies. Metals and steel insolvencies have increased in 2025, and we expect no major improvement in 2026.\n\n## United Kingdom\n\n### An ongoing subdued performance outlook for 2026", "score": 0.42305335, "raw_content": null }, { "url": "https://www.tmhcc.com/en/news-and-articles/thought-leadership/uk-construction-sector-report-december-2025", "title": "UK Construction Sector Report December 2025 - Tokio Marine HCC", "content": "The UK construction sector mirrors this generally negative trend: employment has been falling and open positions have become more and more scarce. ONS data shows that sectoral employment (accounting for around 6% of total UK employment) has dropped from 2,088m workers in Q3 2024 (and 2,158m in Q3 2023) to 2,054m in July-September 2025. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the sector has shed more than 10% of its workforce, equivalent to around 250k employees. This is against the national trend which has actually seen an increase in employment over the past years: from 33.1m in Q4 2019 to now 34.2m. [...] Source: ONS\n\nMeanwhile, output price inflation (prices charged by construction companies) has also eased since 2022-23 but still remains positive3. ONS data shows that output price inflation in the sector peaked in mid-2022: in June, inflation for new construction work stood at a very high 12.1%. Repair and maintenance inflation came in at 7.9% y/y, leading to average construction sector output inflation of 10.7%.\n\nUK Construction Sector Output Price Inflation (y/y change in %)\n\nSource: ONS [...] ##### Output\n\nProblematically, UK construction output disappointed in 2024 and ONS data shows that 2025-performance to date was lacklustre too. Last year, sectoral output expanded by 0.7%, only marginally up from the 0.6% recorded in 2023 but still far below pre-pandemic averages⁴. 2024-growth was solely driven by repair and maintenance which expanded by 8.6%. At the same time, new work fell in both, new housing (-5.1%) and private commercial new work (-3.1%).\n\nUK Construction Sector Output (seasonally adjusted three-month moving average, y/y change in %)\n\nSource: ONS", "score": 0.35925227, "raw_content": null } ], "formatted": "Source: Construction Industry Trends 2026 - ASD Limited\nURL: https://asd.ltd/construction-trends-2026/\nASD The UK's Leading Metal and Steel Supplier # Construction Industry Trends 2026 Construction trends 2026 The UK construction sector is preparing for a better year ahead. After a challenging 2025, industry analysts are expecting growth to return in 2026 and 2027. Private housebuilding is showing signs of recovery, and commercial office developments continue to gain momentum. That said, rising employment costs from the Autumn Budget – higher minimum wage and National Insurance contributions, will undoubtedly add pressure to already tight margins. [...] Furthermore, adaptive re-use of existing building stock, via structural alterations to the existing frame, along with vertical and horizontal extensions, is a prominent feature of the commercial office sector, and this will continue to grow in 2026. ### The Circular Economy Gains Influence Circular economy principles are becoming more prominent across UK construction as the industry moves closer to its net-zero commitments. The focus is shifting away from linear, single-use material consumption towards approaches that maximise the lifespan of resources, support reuse and recycling, and minimise waste. This shift not only aligns with sustainability goals but also helps clients manage costs and improve asset value over a building’s full lifecycle. [...] Lightweight cellular beams, engineered timber, recycled steel, and emerging low-carbon concrete mixes are becoming more visible across projects, reflecting a broader shift toward circular and resource-efficient construction. The specification of lower upfront embodied carbon EAF steel continues to be a strategy on commercial schemes. The drive to deliver greener outcomes is also accelerating the use of modular and prefabricated components, which help reduce waste and improve\n\n---\n\nSource: 2026 State of the UK Construction Industry | Archdesk\nURL: https://archdesk.com/blog/2026-state-of-the-uk-construction-industry\nTender risk in 2026 sits in programme reality, not in your measured works rates. Lead times for key building components still drive start dates and sequencing. A 2025 industry benchmark from BCIS put typical lead times at 14 to 18 weeks for structural steel and curtain walling. If your tender programme assumes 10 weeks and you do not qualify it, you carry the acceleration and out-of-sequence cost. State assumed lead times for your top ten long-lead items in the tender return. Tie them to the order dates you need from the client. 14–18 wks Typical lead times for structural steel and curtain walling (BCIS, Q4 2025) 12%–16% Typical prelims share on £5m–£20m jobs (RICS Contracts in Use, 2024) 18% Prelims seen on complex fit-out and structural packages (2025 market norm in bid reviews) [...] | Prelims weekly burn | Supervision, welfare, logistics, temp works | Wage and compliance costs sit inside prelims. Delay now costs more per week. | BCIS, late 2025: prelims allowances in winning bids up 6% to 8% YoY | | Variation exposure | JCT and NEC change pricing using tender rates | Tender rates are often 12 to 18 months old when the work lands. Wage drift sits inside “fixed” rates. | RICS Contracts in Use: fewer than 30% of sub-£20m jobs include fluctuation clauses | [...] Repair and maintenance (R&M) has grown as a share of output, to about 38% in ONS data. Many teams treat R&M as safer because jobs are smaller and repeatable. Commercially, it bites in a different way. R&M generates more instructions and small changes, so you get more chances to miss notice periods under JCT or NEC contracts. That is margin leakage, not a site performance issue. Weekly cost-to-complete and a weekly variation review stops the slow bleed, because you catch it while the labour and plant decisions ar\n\n---\n\nSource: UK Construction Market Outlook Spring 2026 - Arcadis\nURL: https://www.arcadis.com/en-gb/insights/perspectives/europe/united-kingdom/uk-construction-market-view-spring-2026\nThe Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market View examines the forces shaping the UK construction market, from shifts in sector performance and regional activity to emerging cost pressures and long-term infrastructure investment. ## UK construction industry trends, growth, and inflation insights The Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market View provides a data-driven perspective on the forces shaping the UK construction sector. The report combines market research and analysis, sector insights, and forward-looking forecasts to help industry leaders navigate an uncertain recovery. Construction growth and sector performance analysis—how residential, commercial, infrastructure, and public sectors are diverging in a two-speed recovery. [...] ## What the latest UK construction forecast means for 2026 The UK construction sector may be approaching the bottom of the current cycle, but a sustained recovery remains uncertain. While the pipeline of future work is growing, affordability pressures, regulatory hurdles, and delayed investment decisions continue to slow project delivery. For clients and contractors, this creates a narrow window where labour availability and competitive tender conditions may work in their favour—before cost pressures and market demand begin to rise again. The Spring 2026 Arcadis UK Market Viewexplores what these trends mean for construction growth, costs, and sector performance in the year ahead. ### Get the full UK Market View – Spring 2026 UK Construction Market View Review our report now! [...] Download report (4.53 MB) ## UK Market View Archive Arcadis downloads download\\_items ## Stay ahead of UK construction sector trends Construction markets are evolving quickly. From shifts in the construction pipeline and infrastructure investment to changes in labour availability an\n\n---\n\nSource: Industry trends metals and steel March 2026 - Atradius Collections\nURL: https://atradiuscollections.com/global/knowledge-and-research/reports/industry-trends-metals-and-steel-march-2026\nNicola Harris Senior Underwriter Atradius United Kingdom In addition, metals and steel manufacturers and suppliers continue to face unrelenting higher input costs including wages and high debt servicing fees. There is no expectation for significant demand recovery in the near-term. An exception are niche markets such as aerospace alloys and battery metals. Failures of metals and steel businesses were above historic levels during 2024. These insolvencies were concentrated primarily in the fabricated metals sub-sector. While there was a decrease in 2025, we expect the number of metals and steel insolvencies to remain elevated in 2026. [...] The credit risk situation of the German metals and steel industry remains strained. Subdued demand, energy costs, and low sales prices have deteriorated margins In the UK, metals and steel manufacturers and suppliers continue to face low demand, high input costs including wages and high debt servicing fees [...] Margins of metals and steel businesses have deteriorated in 2025 and are likely to remain under pressure this year due to modest demand, still elevated energy and borrowing costs, and higher raw materials, shipping, and labour costs. Credit risk in the industry remains high. We are observing longer payment terms and several requests for payment plans, in particular by weaker companies. Metals and steel insolvencies have increased in 2025, and we expect no major improvement in 2026. ## United Kingdom ### An ongoing subdued performance outlook for 2026\n\n---\n\nSource: UK Construction Sector Report December 2025 - Tokio Marine HCC\nURL: https://www.tmhcc.com/en/news-and-articles/thought-leadership/uk-construction-sector-report-december-2025\nThe UK construction sector mirrors this generally negative trend: employment has been falling and open positions have become more and more scarce. ONS data shows that sectoral employment (accounting for around 6% of total UK employment) has dropped from 2,088m workers in Q3 2024 (and 2,158m in Q3 2023) to 2,054m in July-September 2025. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the sector has shed more than 10% of its workforce, equivalent to around 250k employees. This is against the national trend which has actually seen an increase in employment over the past years: from 33.1m in Q4 2019 to now 34.2m. [...] Source: ONS Meanwhile, output price inflation (prices charged by construction companies) has also eased since 2022-23 but still remains positive3. ONS data shows that output price inflation in the sector peaked in mid-2022: in June, inflation for new construction work stood at a very high 12.1%. Repair and maintenance inflation came in at 7.9% y/y, leading to average construction sector output inflation of 10.7%. UK Construction Sector Output Price Inflation (y/y change in %) Source: ONS [...] ##### Output Problematically, UK construction output disappointed in 2024 and ONS data shows that 2025-performance to date was lacklustre too. Last year, sectoral output expanded by 0.7%, only marginally up from the 0.6% recorded in 2023 but still far below pre-pandemic averages⁴. 2024-growth was solely driven by repair and maintenance which expanded by 8.6%. At the same time, new work fell in both, new housing (-5.1%) and private commercial new work (-3.1%). UK Construction Sector Output (seasonally adjusted three-month moving average, y/y change in %) Source: ONS" }