PropList Blog
The Glenigan Review March 2020

The Glenigan economics team have decades of experience delivering tailored construction insight, analysis and recommendations to companies just like yours. Our industry insight has been built up over years of impartial data gathering and our economics team combine this with their commercial expertise to provide the in-depth strategic insight that you need to make key budgeting and planning decisions.

Glenigan data covers all construction sectors, including education, health, hotel and leisure, industrial, infrastructure, offices, private housing, retail, social housing, and utilities, and spans across all 13 regions of the UK. 

UK Construction and COVID-19 initial impact assessment

As the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact lives and businesses globally, we look at the issues and risks that are impacting the UK construction industry.

WORKLOAD

Stalled projects: Glenigan research has identified a rising number of projects that have been put on hold as a direct result of the Coronavirus – at last count 705 projects*. This is only set to increase as a number of main contractors and housebuilders have already closed their sites, and the government is under pressure to protect construction workers and halt the spread of the virus.

Planning pipeline: As yet Glenigan hasn’t seen a drop off in the number of planning applications being submitted to local authorities for approval. This may change over the coming weeks as more clients and architects are working at home or selfisolating. In addition, the ability of local authorities to process and approve applications will be disrupted over the coming weeks, with planning staff away and committee meetings postponed. Significant delays would have a detrimental impact on firms’ order books over the coming months.

Marketing and leads generation: The widespread cancellation of industry exhibitions and events and of face-to-face meetings is severing an important traditional route for many businesses to raise their profile, network and find new work opportunities. Business will need to increasingly rely on alternative ways, such as Glenigan, to identify opportunities and engage with potential customers and influencers.

PROJECT DELIVERY

Available workforce: Government predicts that at the pandemic’s peak up to a fifth of the UK workforce will be in self-isolation.

This has clear implications for the operation of work on-site and the timely delivery of projects. Contractors will have to be alert not only to the welfare and availability of their own staff, but also the potential unavailability of staff at key subcontractors which can potentially disrupt the critical path of a project. Construction product availability:

The vast majority of construction products are manufactured in the UK; an estimated 26% of all materials are imported. However, the UK does import a high proportion of certain materials such as timber products and mechanical & electrical components. In addition, 62% of all imported construction products are sourced from the EU and 16% are imported from China, both regions have been subjected to extensive shutdowns and product supply may be interrupted.

Similarly, as the pandemic progresses the availability of UK sourced products may also be disrupted