We indexed 798 articles that Construction News, NCE, The Construction Index, Construction Enquirer and Ground Engineering published in September and read the ones that bear on where work is being won and who will be needed to deliver it. This review sets out six trends that ran across all five titles and links the articles worth opening.
Our clients in the coverage
Gensler features on three schemes worth £7.85bn between them: Universal’s £5bn Bedford resort, the £350m Rackhams masterplan in Birmingham and Arada’s 5,000-home Thameside West. Geobear placed four pieces across NCE and Ground Engineering, including Jon Chevin’s case for forecasting ground risk alongside the weather. TfL is letting its South Kensington upgrade through the £700m framework on which Dragados holds a place.
The top end is stronger
The CN100’s contractors turned over £84.88bn with an average margin of 3.4%, and The Construction Index’s Top 100 also put margin above 3%, with 87 firms in profit. Kier reported a record £11.9bn order book.
Awards are running ahead of starts
Glenigan put main contract awards 120% up on a year earlier, and 77% of the BCIS panel reported contractors eager to tender. Housing starts in England rose 20% in the second quarter as higher-rise schemes cleared Gateway 2.
Energy, water and transport carry the pipeline
Great British Grid, Wylfa, Sizewell C, NI Water’s £10.5bn framework, the A9 and HS2’s move into systems and commissioning set the month’s largest procurements.
Hiring at both ends, costs and consolidation
Balfour Beatty plans 2,000 more UK staff by the end of 2027, Costain doubled its apprentice intake and self-employed trades hit a record £1,110 a week. Diesel passed its 2022 record, and WSP, RSK, Cardo, Vinci and Accenture all bought or built capacity.
What is in the report
Nine pages: a client spotlight, the six trends at a glance, a page on each trend closing on key take aways for hiring, and a reading list of 33 linked articles by title, with the method. Some articles sit behind their publishers’ subscriptions.