As the established trade association and training body for the safety netting and temporary safety systems industry, FASET aims to always keep up to date with the latest news from the building access industry. We are pleased to share the following story from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC).
Monthly construction output is estimated to have increased 2.4% in volume terms in February 2023; this follows a 1.7% fall in January 2023, with February 2023 being the highest monthly value in level terms (£15,558 million) since records began in January 2010.
The increase in monthly construction output came from increases in both repair and maintenance (4.5%) and new work (1.1%) on the month.
Anecdotal evidence suggested several reasons for the increase in February 2023; it was partially driven by a bounce back from the fall in January 2023, but also continued strength across repair and maintenance sectors; many firms also noted an improvement of weather in February, which allowed them to get more work done.
At the sector level, eight out of the nine sectors saw a rise in February 2023, with the main contributors to the monthly increase seen in private housing repair and maintenance, and non-housing repair and maintenance, which increased 5.0% and 3.7%, respectively.
Alongside the monthly increase, construction output saw an increase of 0.9% in the three months to February 2023; this is the sixth period of consecutive growth in the three-month-on-three-month series; the increase came solely from a rise in repair and maintenance (3.1%), as new work saw a decrease (0.5% fall).
The main positive contributors to the increase in the three months to February 2023 were non-housing repair and maintenance (5.5%) and infrastructure new work (2.8%); with the main negative contributor being private new housing (4.4% fall), despite the increase on the month; anecdotal evidence suggested a general slowdown in housing across recent months.
Read the full DBT construction dashboard here.
Download the ONS Construction update here.
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