Industry pins hopes on boost from planning reforms and infrastructure plans

Construction output edged up by 0.4% last year, official figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics added that output fell by 0.2% in December compared with November.

New orders for the lasty quarter fell 2.4% compared to the previous quarter with new work across the whole year slipping by 5.3% with the worst performing sector being infrastructure which suffered a 9.3% decline.

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Firms are being more cautious about the risk they take on, experts have said

But private housing work shot up 24% in the final three months of last year as developers turned on the taps for jobs previously stalled.

Scott Motley, head of programme, project and cost management at Aecom, said: 鈥淎 month-on-month dip in output, particularly within a quarter of growth, wouldn鈥檛 usually in itself be a major concern for contractors. However, with growth forecasts being revised and economic conditions remaining challenging, they will be hoping that it鈥檚 not the first sign of a trend for 2025.

鈥淚t鈥檚 encouraging that the current pipeline of work for contractors is healthy, with most already having filled their order book for the year, but firms are minimising the risk they鈥檙e willing to take on, and that鈥檚 pushing up tender prices and slowing down project starts..鈥�

And Clive Docwra, managing director of property and construction consultancy McBains, said there were bright spots for the year ahead: 鈥淭he recently published planning reforms and falling interest rates will hopefully inject new momentum into the housebuilding sector, although skills shortages and cost inflation on materials could still have an impact on significant growth across work sectors.鈥�

Overall, the economy grew 0.1% in the final quarter of last year despite analysts predicting it would contract.