The ‘Regional Construction Hotspots in Great Britain 2024’ report from Barbour ABI and the CPA provides a regional analysis of construction contract awards to signal near-term trends in construction that aren’t always reflected in data at a national level. By analysing the value of contracts awarded last year in local authority regions across the residential, infrastructure and commercial sectors, the report identifies ‘hotspots’ and ‘coldspots’ as pockets of growth or contraction over the next 6-24 months.

This annual regional report analyses construction contract awards at a high level of regional granularity, firstly to identify pockets of growth or contraction – hotspots and coldspots – in regional activity and secondly, to offer a forward-looking indication of growth by region and by sector. It also showcases the breadth of variation from a single Great Britain-wide figure of construction performance or contract awards activity.

Overall in 2023, total GB contract awards fell 0.8%, but with growth rates ranging between +374% and -95% when analysing at a considerably more granular regional level, stark differences in regional and sector performance become apparent. It is important to note that the economic backdrop will be a major driver and influence on contract awards – from delays in tendering due to cost rises or project adjustments, hesitancy to proceed when financing costs have increased, to the ongoing spectre of a spike in construction insolvencies moving through the supply chain.

The value of contract awards in 2023 is still likely to reflect high rates of construction price inflation, given that double-digit rates of materials inflation were still being recorded at the start of the year, whilst client or contractor hesitancy over costs or lingering economic uncertainty and interest rates rising to a 15-year high, may have led to delays or cancellations to projects awarded contracts.

At a sector level, some regions also show considerable decreases from the contract award values spikes in 2022, which largely reflected a backlog of projects proceeding to contract award after being held up during the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021.

The subsequent decrease in 2023 has, in most cases, brought down contract award values to levels more in line with the longer-term average.

Find the full report for a more detailed breakdown and further insight.