This post was originally published on this site

The October 2025 edition of Glenigan’s Construction Index, reviewing the three months to the end of September 2025, paints a bleak picture of continuing decline.

It says that the rise in project starts seen over spring and summer now feel ‘like a distant memory’.

Just looking at projects valued at under £100m – what Glenigan calls ‘underlying’ projects – the total value of work starting on-site in the three months to September declined by 16%, remaining 15% lower than the same period in 2024.

Performance fell in both the residential and non-residential sectors. The value of residential starts in the quarter was down 26% on the preceding three months and by 24% on the year.

The value of non-residential starts was down 9% against the preceding three months and 5% compared to 2024.

Bright spots include a 32% rise in office starts against the preceding three months and up 123% on the previous year.  Notable projects in the sector include an £86m revamp of Bush House, the former BBC World Service headquarters and a £59m retrofit of 30 Finsbury Square in the City of London.

Glenigan economic director Allan Wilen said: “It feels somewhat like déjà vu, where encouraging signs in the middle of the year have once more given way to further decline. Of course, there are several different factors at play. Looking at the residential market, project starts have faltered over the past quarter, which, perhaps, reflects the slower-than-anticipated recovery in house purchaser confidence, coupled with ongoing developmental delays. This is in part due to slow BSR (Building Safety Regulator) approvals, which account for the sharp fall we registered in the apartment sub-vertical.

He continued: “It was great to see office starts continue its ascendancy and encouraging to see confidence flooding back into a vertical which has been largely subdued in recent years. However, these positive results were not nearly enough to mitigate the poor performance in other quarters, particularly health and education, which eclipsed these outlying areas of growth. As uncertainty once again tightens its grip, the industry will be looking ahead to the autumn budget to see what rabbits, however small, the chancellor can pull from her hat, to help kick-start activity.”

Got a story? Email [email protected]