Delivery of construction projects is taking longer. Glenigan’s analysis of project data reveals that over the past five years the time required to bring projects through planning and construction has grown significantly. The pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and spiraling energy and material costs appear to have contributed to increased development times. While these restrictions on development activity look set to ease over the next two years, the industry will face regulatory changes that may also slow the delivery of planned projects.
“The longer approval time for private residential projects supports housebuilders’ concerns that the planning system is an obstacle to increasing the supply of new housing.“
All stages of the development process are taking longer than in 2019, and pre-construction lead times are experiencing the biggest change.
The average time taken for a new build project, starting during 2022, to progress from a detailed planning application to work on site was 73 weeks. That’s 26 weeks or 29 percent more than a project started on site in 2019. Time typically spent on site also grew 8 percent, from 60 to 65 weeks, over the same period.
Until last year, the time taken to get planning approval had been stable, typically 22 weeks for new build projects. However, decision times have recently lengthened, rising to 27 weeks last year and 29 weeks in the first half of 2023. The slower decision time may reflect increasing pressure on the limited resources of local planning departments .
Surprisingly, the average time taken to get approval for new private residential projects is much longer than for other types of development and has also grown significantly from an average of 35 weeks in 2019 to 45 weeks for the year past (with half of new residential projects longer).
The longer approval time for private residential projects supports housebuilders’ concerns that the planning system is an obstacle to increasing the supply of new housing.
The time it takes for a project to progress from planning consent to site has seen the sharpest increase, with delivery times particularly extended in 2022. New build projects typically take 39 weeks to get on site a year past, 39% more than the 28 weeks it took. in 2019. The increase reflects disruption to industry supply chains and spiraling construction costs over the past two years, forcing some clients and contractors to re-evaluate and redesign projects earlier of construction
New pressures
These supply disruptions are now being reduced. Although prices are still high, construction material inflation has slowed sharply, giving clients and contractors more certainty when calculating project costs. This should help reduce the time required for projects to progress on site.
However, these gains may be offset for some projects as the Building Safety Act comes into force. Construction plans and programs for ‘high-risk’ buildings will need to be registered and approved by the industry regulator before work can start on site, which could extend the time it takes to get a project on site . The construction phase can also be interrupted, especially if project variations need to be reviewed and approved by the regulator.
