Weak workloads in transport sub-sector drag numbers into negative balance

The representative body for UK civil engineering has reported the first drop in workloads since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its quarterly workload trends survey for 2025 Q3, published today, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) found that workloads had moved to a -1% balance. 

It is the first negative reading that CECA’s survey has recorded since 2020, bringing an extended period of growth to an end.

hs2

Source: Shutterstock

The biggest civil engineering job in the country remains HS2, where work is continuing in and around the new station planned at Curzon Street in Birmingham

CECA said the largest negative balances were recorded in railways, motorways/trunk roads, and preliminary works, while activity was resilient in renewable and non-renewable electricity, nuclear-related work and water and sewerage.

Order books continued to grow but at +5% on balance, it was their weakest level since 2020.

Ben Goodwin, CECA director of policy and public affairs, said it was “concerning to see workloads tip marginally into negative territory” and warned that, while demand had not disappeared, delivery was becoming “less consistent, particularly in transport”.

He welcomed the government’s “long-term direction of travel”, including the 10-year Infrastructure Strategy and the UK Infrastructure Pipeline and said CECA had worked over the past year on making the pipeline “more industry-facing, and identifying new models of private financing”.

“Contractors are also still contending with elevated costs and continued shortages in key roles,” he said. 

“If we want to accelerate delivery, we need a pipeline that is not only ambitious, but credible, funded, and structured in a way that makes it investable - for clients, for the supply chain, and for the workforce.

“Despite these headwinds, sentiment looking ahead remains resilient. A clear majority of firms expect workloads and new orders to rise over the next 12 months, and contractors continued to increase employment - underlining that the sector is ready to deliver, provided there is a stable flow of well-prepared, properly funded projects coming forward to market.”