Contract award values reach £57 billion for 2020

Contract award values reach £57 billion for 2020 – a 5% fall on 2019

The value of all construction contract awards in 2020 was £57.0 billion. Despite the challenges 2020 brought, this represents a slight decrease of 4.7% on 2019. Contract award values held steady in 2020, but the number of contract awards declined by just under 16%.

The latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights levels of construction contract values awarded across Great Britain.

Certain sectors in 2020 experienced strong growth whilst others felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The infrastructure sector contract awards in 2020 were valued at £14.5 billion, an increase of 40% on 2019. A large increase in utilities and civil engineering projects contributed to the total, increasing by 61% and 54% respectively.

The hotel, leisure and sport sector contract awards for 2020 was £3.1 billion which is a decline of 43% compared to

2019. This was largely due to a fall in arenas & stadia, and audience & exhibition centres, falling by 68% and 63%

respectively.

However, most significantly the medical & healthcare sector saw an increase of 62% in 2020 compared to 2019 with a total value of contract awards at £2.0 billion.

Commenting on the figures, Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI and AMA Research said, “The total value of contract awards only fell by 5% in 2020, thanks to an extremely strong start to the year and a moderate recovery after the first nationwide lockdown. It’s a complete turnaround where activity is happening compared to 2019, which was dominated by the residential and leisure sectors. In 2020 it has been the healthcare and infrastructure sectors that maintained activity. We expect the same over the first period of 2021, at least until the Covid-19 situation improves and the uncertainty clears.”