IN Brief:
- Glenigan’s latest review shows starts, awards, and detailed approvals all moving lower over the three months to February.
- Civil engineering planning improved in places, but weaker housing and softer awards left the wider pipeline exposed.
- Education and office starts offered limited support, yet the broader market entered spring on a weaker footing.
Glenigan’s March 2026 Construction Review shows the UK construction market moving further into reverse over the three months to the end of February, with site starts, contract awards, and detailed planning approvals all falling against both recent and annual comparisons.
The steepest setback came in project starts, where value fell 39% against the preceding three months and 29% against 2025 levels. Main contract awards dropped 36% year on year and sat 17% lower than the prior three-month period, while detailed planning approvals declined 15% on the preceding period and 16% against a year earlier. The review covers both major projects above £100 million and underlying schemes below that threshold, with the underlying figures seasonally adjusted.
The deterioration was broad, but not completely uniform. Civil engineering endured a weak quarter for starts and awards, yet planning approvals in the sector moved sharply higher, pointing to a better medium-term position than the headline market numbers suggest. Energy remained the largest contributor to civil engineering starts, roads still held a meaningful share, and airports recorded a sharp annual uplift from a low base.
Education and offices both offered more mixed signals. Education starts improved year on year, led by school schemes, even as awards and approvals softened. Office starts also advanced, with growth spread across multiple value bands, although weaker awards and planning numbers indicate that some of the recent momentum may prove difficult to sustain through the rest of the year.
That split matters because the underlying-only market is already showing a different balance of pressure. Separate Glenigan index data for schemes below £100 million points to residential work remaining notably weak, while non-residential construction has held up better. In practice, that leaves the downturn looking less like a universal freeze and more like a market divided between soft housing demand and selective activity in commercial and infrastructure-linked work.
For the rest of 2026, the main question is whether stronger planning activity in parts of civil engineering and selected commercial verticals can translate into awards quickly enough to offset weakness elsewhere. At present, the review suggests the pipeline is still fragile, and the sector is entering spring with fewer firm signs of recovery than many businesses had expected at the start of the year.
