RICS Monitor and UK construction: slow recovery signals for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
UK construction output stayed broadly flat in Q4 2025, with the RICS UK Construction Monitor showing an overall workloads net balance of -6% and respondents citing financial constraints and planning delays as key barriers, each flagged by around 60% of firms. Infrastructure is the main growth area, with current workloads at +12% and 12‑month expectations at +32%, driven by energy generation, grid distribution and water projects. Housing remains weak, with any uplift in development expected to fall well short of the 1.5 million homes target despite the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Technical Brief
- RICS Q4 2025 headline workloads net balance sits at -6%, indicating continued sector-wide stagnation.
- Infrastructure workloads already show a positive net balance of +12%, driven mainly by energy-related schemes.
- Forward-looking infrastructure workload expectations reach +32% net balance, strongest of all monitored subsectors.
- Overall 12‑month workload expectations have improved to a net balance of +17%, signalling cautious pipeline growth.
- Employment expectations also turn more positive, with a +14% net balance for headcount over the next year.
- Around 60% of firms identify financial constraints as a primary barrier to progressing schemes.
- A similar proportion report planning delays as a key impediment, compounding programme and cost‑risk exposure.
- Respondents expect construction cost inflation to continue outpacing tender price growth, compressing project profit margins.
- Building safety regime requirements and scheme viability concerns are specifically cited as additional drag on new development.
Our Take
The positive infrastructure workload balances in the UK RICS data align with our wider Infrastructure coverage, where UK logistics and industrial builds such as the £74m Axis Works facility for Marks & Spencer are still proceeding even as broader construction remains patchy.
With around 60% of respondents citing financial constraints, the RICS Monitor suggests that schemes with pre-secured funding or blue-chip tenants (as seen in the Winvic/Marks & Spencer logistics project) are likely to move fastest, while speculative or marginal schemes may struggle to reach financial close.
The combination of subdued overall workloads and a 14% net balance for employment expectations implies that UK contractors may prioritise higher-margin, technically complex infrastructure packages to keep core teams utilised, rather than chasing volume in low-margin building work.
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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