The healthcare construction industry continues to keep its head above water, despite concern the Government’s promised increase in residential building projects has been seen to stumble.
Despite fears this downturn in activity could have a devastating effect on other sectors such as medical and health, the latest figures from Barbour ABI show that, although contract values decreased in March this year, they were higher than in March 2015.
The latest Construction Market Review for April 2016 – which follows the first solely-Conservative budget since 1997 – states that the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics showan overall increase in construction activity.
With the value of new contracts awarded across all sectors at £6.1billion in March based on a three-month rolling average, this is a 9% increase from February this year, and a 1.7% decrease on the value recorded in March 2015.
Levels of activity in the medical and health sector decreased by 34.8% in March compared to January, with the total value of contracts awarded £155m based on a three-month rolling average. In the three months to March the value of contracts decreased by 0.2% on the previous three months, but were 23% up on the same period in 2015, indicating a longer-term increase in the value of contracts awarded in the sector.
London was the main location of development in the sector this month, capturing 33.4% of activity, a substantial 15.4% increase from March 2015. This was primarily due to the award of the contract to build a new health and social care facility in Highgate, which has a construction value of £14m. The South East also experienced a high proportion of value this month, accounting for 20.5% of value awarded in March, an increase of 19.4% from the same month in 2015.
In terms of where the money is being spent, surgeries, health and medical centres – primary care facilities - are the dominant sub-sector, accounting for 41% of the value of contracts in March 2016, a 33% increase on last year.
To read the report in full, click here.