Construction statistics, Great Britain: 2024

• The value of construction new work in current prices in Great Britain during 2024 increased by 1.4% to £140,684 million; this increase was driven solely by a rise of 6.7% (£2,592 million) in public sector new work as the private sector fell by 0.7% (£688,000).

• Construction new orders grew by 5.6% in 2024 to £71,707 million, driven predominantly by increases in private commercial, other public non-housing and private infrastructure; the only sectors to decrease were private new housing, public new housing and private industrial.

• In Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024, 370,770 Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) registered construction firms were operating in the construction industry across Great Britain, a 1.7% increase compared with 2023.

• Construction-related employees (excluding self-employment) in Great Britain increased by 0.6% in Quarter 3 2024 compared with Quarter 3 2023, totalling 1.4 million workers; the sole contributor to the growth in 2024 was Scotland with growth of 7.9%, Wales decreased by 2.3% and England showed no growth on the year, as sourced from the ONS Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR).

• The all-work Construction Output Price Index saw annual price growth of 3.4% in December 2024.

This article focuses on short-term measures of output value in current prices, that is, not adjusted for the effect of price changes. This is opposed to volume (the value of work deflated by measures of inflation), which is the lead measure in our Construction output in Great Britain bulletin.

Total new work increased by £1,904 million in 2024, with a rise in public new work of 6.7% and a decline in private new work of 0.7%.

The main positive contributors to the total increase were public new housing, which increased by £3,826 million and private infrastructure, which increased by £1,731 million. The main negative contributors were public infrastructure, which decreased by £2,178 million and private new housing, which decreased by £1,421 million.

We publish quarterly construction new orders data, using data sourced from Barbour ABI, which provide an indication of current confidence and future health of the construction industry. Annual data are provided in the accompanying dataset.

Annual new orders in 2024 rose by 5.6% to £71,707 million. The main contributors were private commercial, other public non-housing and private infrastructure, which increased by 18.8%, 18.3% and 15.4%, respectively. The only sectors to decrease were new housing and private industrial, which fell by 10.9% and 6.5%, respectively.

For more information on new orders please see our Construction output in Great Britain bulletin.

Our data include breakdowns on employment, trade, firm size and number of firms, using our Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) data.

There can be delays in the removal of businesses from the IDBR because of economic, legal and statistical processes; the data included in this release represent Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024.

These statistics are based on the location that construction enterprises are registered to on the IDBR. For enterprises with many local units, their region is generally the main operating site or the head office.

Construction firms may operate and employ across wider geographical areas, not just in the region they are registered to on the IDBR. The IDBR classifies businesses by their main economic activity, therefore some construction activity may be classified under other industries, and some non-construction activity may be classified under construction-based businesses.

Firms

There were 370,770 Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) registered construction firms operating in the construction industry across Great Britain in 2024. The number of registered firms increased by 1.7% in Quarter 3 2024 compared with Quarter 3 2023.

The largest percentage increase was in Scotland, with 2.2% (483) more registered firms. The number of registered construction firms in England and Wales increased by 1.7% (5,681) and 0.6% (92), respectively.

Employees (excluding self-employment)

Sourced from IDBR estimates, the number of construction-related employees (excluding self-employment) in Great Britain increased by 0.6% in 2024 compared with 2023, totalling 1.4 million workers. The sole contributor to the growth in 2024 was Scotland, with growth of 7.9%, while Wales decreased by 2.3% and England showed no growth on the year.

Despite overall growth in employees in 2024, firms within the construction industry continued to report a shortage of skilled labour, with job vacancies remaining elevated compared with pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels. This is shown in our Vacancies by industry dataset. Evidence suggests this shortage is driven by a combination of factors, including an ageing workforce, the impact of Brexit and reduced supply of EU labour.

Employees and self-employment

Information on total employment (employees and self-employment) is available in our Workforce jobs dataset; information on self-employment specifically is available in our Self-employment jobs by industry dataset, sourced from the Labour Force Survey.

Insolvencies

In 2024, several major construction firms entered administration, resulting in significant industry disruption through job losses and unpaid invoices.

Information on construction company insolvencies is available in the Company Insolvency Statistics releases, published by The Insolvency Service.

For a full account of business death counts, see our Business demography, quarterly bulletin.

Our Construction Output Price Indices (OPIs) dataset provides our best estimate of inflation within the UK construction industry.

In the 12 months to December 2024, there was growth in the all-Construction Output Price Index of 3.4%.

At the lower level, repair and maintenance, and new work output prices increased across the 12 months to December 2024 by 2.7% and 3.7%, respectively.

Methodology improvements were made to a range of deflators used in the national accounts in Blue Book 2025, including changes to the repair and maintenance deflator. More information can be found in our Deflator improvements to the UK National Accounts: Blue Book 2025 article.

In 2024, the construction industry increased focus on sustainability following regulatory changes introduced early in the year, including enhanced energy efficiency requirements for new buildings and overheating mitigation standards. The sector saw greater adoption of low carbon technologies and sustainable materials, prompting a need for specialised skills. Consequently, industry-wide efforts were made to address the skill gap in low carbon construction. These developments have influenced project planning, procurement and costs, reflecting a broader transition toward environmentally responsible building practices (UK GBC, 2025 Trends in Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment 2024).

The construction industry also increasingly integrated digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), drones and artificial intelligence to enhance project efficiency and safety (ScienceDirect, 2023 Applications of existing and emerging construction safety technologies - ScienceDirect). Investment in construction technology grew substantially, supporting improved planning, real-time monitoring and reduced waste. These advancements contributed to shorter project timelines and cost savings while addressing labour shortages by automating routine tasks.

Construction output estimates

Construction output estimates are monthly estimates of the amount of output chargeable to customers for building and civil engineering work done in the relevant period, excluding Value Added Tax (VAT) and payments to subcontractors.

Construction Output Price Indices (OPIs)

The Construction OPIs are compiled using input costs; material, labour and plant, which are weighted together for a selection of types of construction projects. A mark-up is then applied to account for profit by the construction firm. The result is considered a proxy for output prices.

Inter-Departmental Business Register

The Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) is a comprehensive list of UK businesses registered for VAT and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) used by government for statistical purposes. The IDBR provides the main sampling frame for surveys of businesses carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other government departments. It is also an important data source for analysis of business activities.

The two main sources of input are VAT and PAYE records from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Additional information comes from Companies House, Dun and Bradstreet and the ONS business surveys.

New orders

The new orders data measure the value and volume of new orders of main contractors by type of work and region.

Seasonally adjusted estimates

Seasonally adjusted estimates are derived by estimating and removing calendar effects (for example, leap years such as 2024) and seasonal effects (for example, decreased activity at Christmas because of site shutdowns) from the non-seasonally adjusted estimates.

Value estimates

The value estimates reflect the total value of work that businesses have completed over a reference month. Value estimates are also referred to as the data in current prices.

Volume estimates

The volume estimates are calculated by taking the value estimates and adjusting to remove the impact of price changes. Where chain-linking is applied, volume estimates are referred to as chained volume measures.

This annual article brings together a range of statistics currently available on the construction industry from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other government departments.

The construction industry is categorised as Section F of the Companies House UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007, which is defined as:

• division 41: Construction of buildings

• division 42: Civil engineering

• division 43: Specialised construction activities

All data published are in current prices and, unless otherwise stated, non-seasonally adjusted and correct at the time of release, however, are subject to revisions as per the respective revisions policy.

The following links provide the annual data sources published previously, externally, or elsewhere by the ONS:

• Average weekly earnings

• Building materials and components: monthly statistics

• Business demography, quarterly experimental statistics, UK

• Business insights and impact on the UK economy

• Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2024

• Department for Communities (Northern Ireland): Housing statistics

• Employees and self-employed by industry

• Health and Safety Executive: Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR)

• House building data, UK

• Labour disputes in the UK (LABD)

• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Planning application statistics

• Non-financial business economy, UK and regional (Annual Business Survey)

• Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency: Construction output statistics

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): International comparisons

• Regional economic activity by gross domestic product estimates

• The Insolvency Service: Insolvency Statistics

• UK business; activity, size and location

• Workforce jobs by region and industry

Quality and methodology information(QMI)

• Construction output QMI (last revised 8 August 2019)

• Construction Output Price Indices (OPIs) QMI (last revised 10 May 2023)

• New orders in construction QMI (last revised 8 August 2019)

• UK business; activity, size and location QMI (last revised 24 September 2025)