Planning consents surged in January

Plummeting numbers of project starts could be reversed following a jump in the amount of planning approvals seen last month, according to a new report.

Information provider Glenigan said the number of planning consents for smaller projects, valued at less than £100m, rose by 23% in January compared to the final quarter of 2021 and were 15% higher than a year ago.

Consents for all project sizes have now risen for the third month in a row, with numbers now nearly a fifth higher than they were in October.

It follows recent findings by Glenigan which showed January had seen the lowest value of project starts since the beginning of the first covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

The firm’s economic director Allan Wilen said an increasingly robust pipeline of approvals pointed to growth in the months ahead.

He added: “The waning impact of external challenges such as covid restrictions and material shortages is also having a positive effect, helping the industry’s bounce-back, bringing a welcome boost to construction output and vindicating our own strong forecasts for 2022/2023.”

Wilen said a recovering UK economy, which grew by 7.5% in 2021, is likely to create a knock-on effect for construction this year as more work opportunities are brought forward.

Construction output rose by 1% in the fourth quarter of 2021, up 4.6% on a year ago, driven by a 8.7% rise in new industrial work and a 4.9% increase in new public non-residential work.