Starts across four regional cities up but amount of space being built falls, Deloitte crane survey finds

Deloitte’s regional crane survey recorded a mixed picture in 2025 with an overall increase in the number of new starts across its four cities but a decrease in the number of units and floorspace under construction.

The crane surveys monitor construction activity in the central areas of Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester.

The four saw increased levels of new construction starts compared with the previous survey, with 53 new schemes as opposed to 47 in 2024 – which was down from 63 in 2023.

But the survey said this did not equate to an increase in the volume of units and floorspace under construction because of the smaller scale of some new starts – particularly across the residential sector.

Just over half of the 53 starts – 27 -were in residential, seven were offices, eight were student housing schemes and five were hotels.

Across the residential sector, 21,057 units were under construction, with 8,885 units completions. This represents a decrease from 23,673 units and 9,075 completions the previous year.

For offices, two million sq ft of office space was under construction last year, down from 2.8m sq ft in 2024. The survey said 1.7m sq ft was delivered to market in 2025.

John Cooper, infrastructure and real estate partner at Deloitte, said: “In 2025, the construction sector had to navigate several challenges including complex economics, with higher costs and new building regulations such as the Building Safety Act contributing to deliverability challenges.

“However, we have seen the impact of strategic public and private sector investment and collaboration, supplemented by developer sentiment shifting from cautious optimism to committed construction in a number of cases.

“Our research indicates a resilient pipeline, with healthy forward-looking activity across the student accommodation and hotel sectors and a more positive outlook into 2026 across the offices and residential sectors.”

Birmingham, which had the most starts on site, currently has 40 schemes on site with 17 residential schemes breaking ground last year.