Raw monthly data underlines growth trend with value of £6.3 billion.

Whilst overall construction output fell by a record 35.0% in Q2, the bulk of that decline occurred in April with data for both May and June showing record output growth. Whilst the normal focus for construction output would be on the more stable quarterly figures, the unusual situation in 2020 means that changes to monthly output data are now in sharper focus. The latest data release from ONS shows that overall construction output increased by 23.5% in June and follows the previous record of 7.6% increase in May. However, despite the strong growth over the last two months construction output in June 2020 is 24.8% below that of February 2020, immediately priorto Covid-19 lockdown. Data for June shows 22.5% increase for new work compared to May whilst RMI output increased by 26.0%. New housing was particularly positive with 39.0% increase for the public sector whilst private sector housing output increased by 42.3%.

The private commercial sector registered a 25.5% increase on the previous month whilst infrastructure new work was more subdued with 6.7% increase.

The UK construction sector in August 2020 is firmly on the path to recovery with output for May and June showing some bounce back. In addition, contract awards data for June and July is extremely positive indicating that the 51.1% slump in new orders in Q2 might be allayed to some extent in Q3. In addition, the Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey undertaken by ONS indicates that the construction sector had 75.5% of staff working at their normal place of work or working remotely between the 15 and 28 June 2020.

FIS members can access the full report here.