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Construction Output In Great Britain: May 2020

14th July 2020

Photograph of Construction Output In Great Britain: May 2020

Construction output grew by a record 8.2% in the month-on-month all work series in May 2020 following the record decline of 40.2% in April 2020; the level of construction output is now down 38.8% on February 2020 before the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Construction output fell by a record 29.8% in the three months to May 2020, compared with the previous three-month period; this was driven by record falls of 30.3% in new work and 28.9% in repair and maintenance.

The decrease in new work (30.3%) in the three months to May 2020 was because of record falls in most of the new work sectors; private new housing and private commercial were the largest contributors, falling by 42.5% and 29.5% respectively.

The decrease in repair and maintenance (28.9%) in the three months to May 2020 was because of record falls in all repair and maintenance sectors; the largest contributor was private housing repair and maintenance, which fell by 39.8%.

Construction output in May 2020

Construction output increased by 8.2% in May 2020 compared with April 2020, rising to £8,253 million, though output remains at a substantially lower level than normal compared with the all work construction output series prior to March 2020. This is shown by total construction output in May 2020 being 38.8% (£5,230 million) lower in comparison with the February 2020 level, which was before the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Following the large record monthly falls in April 2020 across all construction industry sectors, in May 2020 there was monthly growth across all sectors apart from public other new work and public housing repair and maintenance.

Figure 1 shows the monthly and quarterly indexed chained volume measure, seasonally adjusted series. The quarterly series provides a smoother and more comprehensive view of trends within the construction industry, compared with the more volatile monthly series.

March 2020 was significantly impacted by the coronavirus leading to then record falls in monthly growth, including in all work, which fell 5.4%. Construction output in April 2020 was significantly more affected by the coronavirus as large parts of the industry shut down as businesses adhered to the official government guidance. We received a large amount of anecdotal information regarding this from survey respondents, through qualitative comments to the survey along with information from the Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey (BICS). However, it is difficult to quantify the exact impact of the coronavirus alone on the industry.

For May 2020, anecdotal information noted that the partial recovery was because of the gradual easing in official guidance on restrictions in movement across parts of the UK but output remains 38.8% lower compared with February 2020. Table 1 shows the change in output for the types of construction work between February 2020 and May 2020. All types of work have seen large declines in output since the start of 2020.

Coronavirus in May 2020

We have worked closely with respondents and data suppliers and have used additional data sources to inform the estimates in this publication. We used qualitative information sourced from construction industry respondents to the Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey (BICS) to quality assure response we received for May 2020.

Anecdotal evidence from responders to both BICS and the Monthly Business Survey (MBS) suggests a limited increase in activity, though not equally across all construction sectors and all UK regions. Social distancing measures meant where businesses were returning to premises and sites the capacity and level of output were not at the same levels of work experienced prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

We also closely monitor business responses in each publication and use internationally recognised statistical methods to deal with non-response. To assist with this, the mode of data collection from April 2020 onward has moved to online data collection. This led to improved response rates for both April 2020 and May 2020, by both number of forms and turnover coverage of the industry when compared with March 2020, though response is still below levels seen prior to the coronavirus. Further information on this can be found in Section 9, Measuring the data, under the Impact of online data collection on response rates subheading.

For further information, we have released a public statement on COVID-19 and the production of statistics.

Read the full report HERE