RICS data on UK construction: workload shifts and risks for infrastructure engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
UK construction workloads fell across most major sectors at the start of 2026, with RICS data pointing to weaker forward-looking sentiment as contractors react to cost and supply-chain uncertainty linked to the Middle East conflict. Infrastructure is the main outlier, with respondents still reporting positive workload expectations for transport, energy and utilities schemes, supported by committed multi-year public spending. For geotechnical and civil contractors, this suggests tighter pipelines in commercial and residential work but continued demand for large linear and energy projects.
Technical Brief
- Forward-looking sentiment in the RICS survey has weakened, with more firms expecting flat or reduced activity.
Our Take
RICS appears in relatively few of the 823 Infrastructure stories in our coverage, but where it does feature it is usually shaping standards or market sentiment rather than individual project delivery, so its survey data tends to be treated as a leading indicator by UK contractors and consultants.
The recent creation of the “chartered civil engineering surveyor” designation under the RICS–CICES agreement (17 Feb 2026) signals that RICS is tightening its links with project-side professionals, which may make its future UK construction sentiment data more closely aligned with on-site conditions rather than purely property-led metrics.
Within our UK Infrastructure items tagged ‘Projects’, RICS commentary is more often associated with funding and pipeline visibility than with technical design; a weakening read from RICS therefore typically feeds into risk assessments on order books and cash flow rather than on constructability or engineering capability.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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