Big-ticket civils projects underpin a brighter 2021

摘要

Construction was severely disrupted by COVID-19 last year and now faces a challenging recovery. Although classed as an essential service, the immediate reaction to the first lockdown was for firms to close sites, halting activity. This contrasts with the situation so far during the winter, with ONS data indicating that just 2 per cent of UK construction firms had paused trading in the final two weeks of 2020 and intended to remain closed in the new year. Before the UK entered its third national lockdown, IHS Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) highlighted resilient trends for production, recruitment and project starts, despite tougher headwinds for supply chain management and sharply rising costs in December. The latest PMI data extends the rebound in UK construction activity seen throughout the second half of 2020. The Total Activity Index posted comfortably above the neutral 50.0 level, at 54.6 in December, and the speed of recovery was virtually unchanged since November. Encouragingly, strong order books are helping to drive the sector's recovery.