ONS Construction Output in Great Britain: Rise of 3.0% in Three Months to January 2022

The main points:

• Monthly construction output increased by 1.1% in volume terms in January 2022 and is now at its highest level since September 2019; this follows an increase of 2.0% in December 2021 and is the third consecutive monthly growth greater than 1.0%.

• The increase in monthly construction output in January 2022 came solely from an increase in repair and maintenance (4.6%) as new work saw a slight decrease of 0.8% on the month. 

• At the sector level, the main contributors to growth in January 2022 were private housing repair and maintenance and non-housing repair and maintenance, which grew by 5.0% and 5.5%, respectively.

• The level of construction output in January 2022 was 1.4% (£197 million) above the February 2020 pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level. New work was 2.8% (£267 million) below the February 2020 level, while repair and maintenance work was 9.3% (£464 million) above the February 2020 level.

• The recovery to date (since the falls at the start of the coronavirus pandemic) is mixed at a sector level, with infrastructure 37.9% (£709 million) above and private commercial 27.8% (£693 million) below their respective February 2020 levels in January 2022.

• Alongside the monthly increase, construction output rose 3.0% in the three months to January 2022; this is the strongest growth in the three-month on three-month series since June 2021 (3.4%), with increases seen in both new work and repair and maintenance (4.0% and 1.4%, respectively).

(NB Estimates for January 2022 are subject to more uncertainty than usual as a result of the challenges faced with data collection in the current climate. This has led to lower response rates than normally experienced both before and during the coronavirus pandemic.)

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