Construction starts saw a rise in the three months to May, while prime lettings underperformed. Detailed planning approvals were down on the previous three months, but up on the previous year.
At an average of £6.341bn per month, work started on site in the three months to May saw a different performance, rising 10 per cent compared to the previous three months, but remaining 37 percent lower than a year ago. Major project starts (over £1bn in value) averaging £2.101bn per month followed the same trend, up 88% on the previous three months, but down 23% compared to previous year Underlying work (less than £1bn) started on site averaged £4.24bn per month, down 16% on the previous three months on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis to stand at 42% less than the previous year.
Major contract awards averaged £6.884 billion per month; a 20 percent drop compared to the previous three-month period to be 37 percent below the same time last year. Underlying prime contract awards, averaging £5.668 billion, were down 13% on the previous three months (QQ) and 33% on the previous year. Major project contract awards averaged £1.216 billion per month; a 50 percent decrease compared to the previous three months and the previous year.
Detailed planning approvals, averaging £10.242 billion a month, were down 14% on the previous three months, but were down 9% on a year ago. Major project contract awards were down 33 per cent on the previous three months and up 54 per cent on the previous year to an average of £4.037bn per month. Underlying detailed planning approvals averaged £6.206 billion per month, up 1% compared to the previous three months (QA) to be 8% lower than a year ago.
