IN Brief:
- Main contract awards rose 17% over three months and 169% year-on-year, while detailed planning approvals increased 10%.
- Project starts fell 7% against the preceding three months but were level with the same period of 2025.
- Healthcare and civils are producing the strongest gains, while residential starts continue to lag behind their emerging pipeline.
Glenigan has reported a sharp increase in main contract awards and a renewed rise in detailed planning approvals, while projects starting on site remained subdued during the three months to the end of July. The August 2026 Construction Review points to a stronger forward pipeline, but one that is still converting into physical construction only unevenly.
Main contract awards increased 17% against the preceding three months and were 169% higher than a year earlier. Detailed planning approvals rose 10% over the three-month period, although they remained 3% below 2025 levels. Starts fell 7% quarter-on-quarter but were unchanged against the same period last year.
The Review covers major schemes valued above £100m as well as underlying projects below that threshold, with the latter seasonally adjusted. Large projects made a substantial contribution to the latest contract-award figures, particularly in healthcare, where schemes under the New Hospital Programme have reached procurement milestones.
Glenigan highlighted Leighton Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital among the projects contributing to the increase. The effect is visible across the public-sector data: health starts rose 32% year-on-year, main contract awards increased 634%, and detailed planning approvals were up 65%.
Hospitals accounted for more than half of health-sector starts, with that subcategory rising 75%, while nursing homes and hospices increased 44%. The strength in awards indicates considerably more healthcare workload moving through procurement, although delivery timing will depend on individual schemes progressing from contract award into mobilisation.
Glenigan economics director Allan Wilen said there were “plenty of reasons for readers to be cheerful” after a difficult first half of the year, while cautioning that the emerging improvement remained vulnerable to wider economic conditions. Labour and material costs are stabilising, but investor confidence and public spending priorities continue to influence whether projects move from approval into construction.
Residential work remains the clearest drag on current activity. Housing starts fell 39% year-on-year even as main contract awards rose 60%, leaving a substantial gap between projects reaching procurement and work beginning on site.
Private housing starts dropped 52% to £2.434bn, while private apartments fell 23% to £1.63bn. Social-sector housing performed better but still declined 27% to £821m. Detailed planning approvals across residential construction were also 22% lower than a year earlier.
London remained the largest housing market by value, with starts of £1.25bn despite a 16% decline. The North West was considerably steadier, slipping just 1% to £962m. The South West, West Midlands, and Wales recorded steeper falls, although stronger Welsh planning approvals provide some evidence of work accumulating further up the development pipeline.
Private non-residential construction produced a more fragmented picture. Office starts declined only 3%, while approvals increased 54%. Projects valued between £20m and £50m rose 18% to £627m at approval stage, while the £50m-to-£100m band increased 80% to £361m.
Hotel and leisure construction showed an even more pronounced separation between current and future workload. Main contract awards rose 787% and approvals increased 56%, yet starts were down 17%. Industrial starts fell 43%, but detailed approvals increased 147%, again indicating schemes gathering further up the pipeline without yet translating into comparable site activity.
Public-sector community and amenity work followed the same pattern. Contract awards were 182% higher and planning approvals increased 95%, while starts declined 34%. Education starts fell 44%, although a 204% increase in awards, supported partly by the Schools Rebuilding Programme, points to stronger procurement activity ahead.
Civil engineering provides the clearest contrast because stronger orders are already reaching construction. Starts increased 171% year-on-year and main contract awards were 85% higher. Roads accounted for around 30% of activity, with harbour and port schemes also contributing, although detailed planning approvals fell 37%.
The regional civils figures were dominated by a small number of very large programmes. Starts in the South East reached £6.009bn, an 844% year-on-year increase and around two-thirds of the sector total. The West Midlands rose 732% to £1.241bn. At approval stage, the North East reached £3.069bn after a 688% increase, while the East Midlands rose 159% to £1.141bn.
The August Review therefore leaves contractors with a stronger pipeline but no uniform recovery in current workload. Healthcare and major civil engineering are benefiting from sizeable programmes, while residential construction remains weak and several private sectors are recording much stronger approvals than starts.
Glenigan expects construction performance to strengthen during 2027. The August figures provide support for that forecast through higher contract awards and approvals, but the immediate measure remains mobilisation. For the rest of 2026, the important number will be how much of the newly awarded work actually moves through site gates rather than how impressive the procurement pipeline looks on paper.
