Today, Glenigan, one of the construction industry’s leading insight and intelligence experts, releases the August 2024 edition of its Construction Review. The Review focuses on the three months to the end of July 2024, covering all major (>£100m) and underlying (<£100m) projects, with all underlying figures seasonally adjusted. It’s a report which provides a detailed and comprehensive analysis of year-on-year construction data, giving built environment professionals a unique insight into sector performance over the last 12 months. Averaging £10,198 million per month, work starting on site in the three months to the end of July increased 8% compared with the same period last year. This uplift was attributed to a significant spike in major project-starts which rose considerably, increasing 42% compared to 2023. However, this growth was tempered by a decline in underlying project-starts which were down 11% on the previous year despite inching up (+2%) against the preceding three months. Overall, work starting on site failed to grow on the preceding three-month period, declining 10% during the three months to July. Commenting on the figures, Glenigan’s Economic Director, Allan Wilén says, “Construction activity is showing encouraging signs of recovery, with starts on site up 8% compared to last year and main contract awards reflecting a steady 3% year-on-year growth. This momentum indicates a cautiously optimistic outlook within the industry, particularly as the new government’s planning reforms begin to take shape.” Main contract awards fell 9% against the previous three-month period, but pulled slightly ahead of last year, rising 3%. Drilling into the data, major contract awards were responsible for this slight growth, advancing a third on the year before. Underlying contract awards, however, declined 5% against the preceding period and 11% compared to 2023 levels. Planning approvals were down across the board, dropping back 6% against the previous three months and 32% on a year ago. Major planning approvals fell 12% against the preceding period, with the value decreasing by 54% on last year. Underlying planning approvals increased 6% on the preceding three months, but finished 5% lower than the same period in 2023. The sector-specific and regional index, which measures underlying project performance, saw modest growth during the three months to the end of July 2024. Residential construction experienced a particularly healthy period, contributing to a 2% overall growth in underlying starts. Taking a closer look at the highlights… Residential starts going strong Underlying residential starts increased 12% during the three months to July, despite falling back 17% on the year before. This overall boost was attributed to a spike in private housing starts, which rose by 25% following a weak start to the year as developers’ sentiment toward the prospects for the housing market improved. Despite the upturn, starts were still 12% lower than a year ago. Social housing work starting on site remained depressed, dropping by 23% against the preceding three months and being 32% down against the previous year. Prison starts jump tenfold amid Community & Amenity decline Underlying community & amenity project-starts fell 44% compared to the preceding three-month period to stand 8% down on last year. Underlying contract awards experienced a weak performance, decreasing 52% against both the preceding three months and the previous year. Underlying approvals were also down 51% (SA) on the previous three months, and 47% on 2023 to total £142 million. Major community & amenity projects (>£100 million) fared better compared to the same period last year, when no major projects started on site. Major approvals also increased on the preceding three-month period and on the same time last year. Totalling £205 million, prisons accounted for the highest proportion (50%) of community & amenity starts, with the value jumping more than tenfold on a year ago. Regional Outlook Refreshingly, regional performance was generally impressive. Yorkshire and the Humber and Scotland performed strongly, with the value of starts rising by 10% and 4% during the three months to July and up 5% and 4%, respectively, on a year earlier. Other strong performers included the East Midlands, which experienced a 33% rise in starts against the preceding three months but was still 11% lower than a year ago. The South West, Wales, and Northern Ireland also experienced double-digit growth of 16%, 10%, and 39% respectively against the preceding three months, but the value of starts remained down from a year ago. London experienced a 9% rise against the preceding three months but was 20% down against the previous year. By contrast starts in the East of England, the North East, and the North West declined by 7%, 23%, and 10% respectively against the previous three months. To find out more about Glenigan and its construction intelligence services click here. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

As the UN’s International Equal Pay Day approaches, it’s important to tackle the gender pay gap in construction, which, according to the 2023 ONS data, stands at 12.1% (median average). The Gender Pay Gap across the construction sector has worsened by a median 3% over the past three years, going from 9.3% to 12.1%.  There is a clear picture here of a worsening gender pay gap, but what does the construction industry need to do to get into a more positive place, and how can it achieve pay parity?  Acknowledge the Issue at Hand  It’s often simple to ignore these issues, but for real change to occur, we must acknowledge them. As an industry that intersects with many others, we must recognise the problem and start addressing it. Year Median gender pay gap (5) 2023 12.1 2022 10.0 2021 9.3 *calculated as the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men.  Transparent Salary Reporting While any business that employs over 250 people is legally required in the UK to publish a gender pay gap report, this isn’t to say that smaller companies can’t. While the data may be harder to analyse, there is nothing stopping you from going through the process of gender pay gap reporting. Using data from a construction analytics software can help to streamline the process and provide your team with insight.  Similarly, you can also offer clear salary bands across the company. This way people can see what range they can be earning from, and how moving up should affect their pay.  Create Bias-free Hiring Practices Companies that utilise bias-free hiring practices such as seeing anonymous CVs can help to remove any notion of gender and race as part of the hiring process. You can also use tools such as the Gender Decoder to remove gender-coded language in job descriptions, which help to remove unconscious gender bias in the hiring process.  You could also take a more drastic approach like the Eindhoven University of Technology, who only allowed women to apply to jobs for the first six months they were open, and then let men apply. While this policy has changed since the outcry, the initial policy worked. In five years, the percentage of newly hired female academic staff grew from 30% to 50%. The number of female permanent academic staff increased from 22% to 29%. Actively Address Harassment and “Lad” Culture While construction holds a legacy of lad culture and “banter”, it’s important to set clear boundaries of what is ok and what isn’t ok across the workplace. It can be off-putting for anyone who feels like they may not fit in with the “banter” to want to join a company.  With harassment of any kind, it’s important to make a clear statement as to how it has been dealt with and how workplaces plan to action these kinds of things. Whether sexuality, race or gender, making an example of how things have been dealt with shows that such behaviour isn’t tolerated and makes employees affected feel seen and heard.  Working with Schools and Universities  Growing the pool of those interested in working in construction has to start from the ground up. Whether your company wants to partner with a local school to offer workshops, or you offer training programs to those in universities, working with local educational institutions is a great way to boost the intake of a variety of people throughout the construction industry. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals