London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Britain IS building! Construction booms at fastest rate in seven years

Britain IS building! Construction booms at fastest rate in seven years

The closely watched construction purchasing managers' index showed output growth in May hit the highest level since September 2014, at a reading of 64.2. This was up from 61.6 in April.

Britain's construction sector is growing at its fastest rate in almost seven years amid a surge in residential work and commercial building.

The closely watched construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed output growth in May hit the highest level since September 2014, at a reading of 64.2.

This was up from 61.6 in April, and the fourth consecutive month of construction growth – any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The data is the latest sign of bounce- back Britain's rapid recovery from the pandemic, following thumping PMI readings in the services and manufacturing sectors earlier this week.

The figures paint a healthy picture of an economy roaring back into life.

Douglas McWilliams, deputy chairman of economic consultancy, the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: 'I predicted at the start of the year that this would happen, and now others are starting to come round.

'The economy is bouncing back very strongly and it's outperformed most expectations. Not only has the consumer started spending but business-to-business activity has been good too, which was the bit people hadn't predicted.'

May's manufacturing PMI, released earlier this week, showed conditions in the sector improving at an unprecedented rate with a reading of 65.6.

Backlogs of work rose to their highest level since the survey began in 1994, and there was a record increase in staffing levels as factories began to hire again following the Covid lockdowns.

And in the services PMI, which includes industries from banking to retail and hospitality, a reading of 62.9 pointed to the fastest rate of output in 24 years, as the country began to be released from its lockdown shackles.

In another sign that life was getting back to normal, new car sales surged by 674.1 per cent year-on-year in May, according to industry body the SMMT, with 156,737 new vehicles hitting the road – well up from last year when car showrooms were closed.

And a report on jobs, from accounts KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, showed demand for workers in May across the whole of the UK ballooned at its quickest rate for more than 23 years.

Job vacancies were at their highest rate since January 1998 – but the pandemic meant there were far fewer people available to snap up these roles.

Overall availability slumped at the quickest rate since May 2017.

Many younger people who lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic have moved back in with their parents, often relocating out of cities, while thousands of overseas workers have gone back home.

This has led to worrying shortages of staff for firms who rely on these workers, especially hospitality companies such as pubs and restaurants.

KPMG's Claire Warnes said: 'We need businesses and recruiters working alongside government to urgently address the skills gap, by supporting candidates and employees to upskill and reskill to move into new roles.

'This will be crucial to our recovery from the pandemic.'

But the hopes for bounce-back Britain were tempered by rising worries about inflation, or increases in the cost of living.

Increased demand has caused supply chains to become 'stretched' and the costs of raw materials to shoot up.

The construction PMI indicated that firms' costs were rising at the fastest rate since records began 24 years ago.

Max Jones, a director in Lloyds Bank's infrastructure and construction team, said: 'A recovery fuelled by pent-up demand isn't without risks.

'What's been impossible to ignore over the past month is the strain placed on the supply of key materials, and the price rises this has brought about.

'Many merchants are now placing limits on the amount that contractors can buy, stifling long-term planning.'

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×