UK construction and property
- Apprenticeship support | The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) unveiled its latest business plan, spending almost £290m in the next 12 months to help the sector address its skills crisis. It will continue to fund industry placements, expand its New Entrant Support Team (NEST), and work with devolved governments to align college provision and qualifications with industry needs. A new competence framework is also expected to be rolled out, alongside localized Employer Networks to direct funding more effectively. An additional £15m will be invested in the National Construction College’s three sites.
- Building Safety Regulator (BSR) | Problems with the BSR’s new digital system has hindered staff accessing applications, however the regulator says that it has spent more time unpicking poor-quality applications than it has lost due to IT troubles. A freedom of information request from consultancy Project Four revealed that the BSR has only approved two out of 130 new-build applications in January this year. Part of a recent £2m funding boost from central government has been allocated to improving the digital system, while the rest will finance staff training and an external review of the BSR procedure.
- Gateway 2 backlog | The BSR missed its target to clear the backlog of Gateway 2 approvals by April. The delays were initially caused by the withdrawal of two private building control companies last year, which meant the decision on 45 in-flight projects passed to the BSR. The head of the BSR has said that he “wouldn’t be adverse” to pre-application engagement to ease the delays at Gateway 2.
- Building safety | According to provisional quarterly data from the Health and Safety Executive, the construction industry experienced one of its safest years on record. 19 construction workers died as a result of workplace injuries suffered between April and December, lower than the 35 workers who died in the same period in 2023. If fatal injuries continued at the same quarterly rate up to April 2023, some 25 construction workers will have died in the year – five fewer than the previous low of 30, experienced in both 2017/18 and 2018/19.
- Construction job vacancies have risen despite a fall across the wider UK economy. At the same time, average weekly earnings in construction rose to £741, an increase of 4% compared with a year earlier and higher than inflation, suggesting that real pay growth remains strong. However, the rate of wage inflation has eased from the highs of 2022-23, when firms struggled to retain skilled tradespeople amid labour shortages and high attrition. Recruitment difficulties have eased from the extreme levels seen last year but remain above the long-term average, with smaller contractors having scaled back hiring, citing delays in planning approvals, a slowdown in housebuilding, and tighter client budgets.
- Project starts are down 21% year-on-year and 4% against the preceding three months in the first quarter of 2025, according to Glenigan. The value of work commencing on-site still trending significantly below last year. Major projects (£100m+) and underlying schemes (<£100m) have both underperformed, posting declines both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year despite some momentum at the contract award stage. However, detailed planning approvals rose 8% against the preceding three months, with growth more prominent in the industrial, health, hotel & leisure, and education sectors. These trends suggest a strengthening development pipeline which, if sustained, could support a rebound in project starts during the second half of 2025.
- Grid connections | The energy regulator Ofgem is to scrap the current first-come, first-served approach to the grid connections queue to speed up the connection of wind and solar farms to the grid. Ofgem has previously estimated that the changes will roughly treble the amount of power generation added to the grid per year, with the regulator wanting the first projects to be connected under the new regime in 2026.
