Councils are spending more on construction

According to recent data, retrieved by Glenigan, construction spending by local authority clients has more than doubled in the past year, with 38 local councils featuring among Glenigan’s top 100 highest spending clients in the 12 months building to August 2019.

In fact, the total sum of construction contracts in Glenigan’s rankings, that were awarded by local councils, achieved a total value of £6.8Bn, with this figure amounting to a proportion of 30% of the spending by the construction industry’s top clients.

This shows a drastic level of increase when compared with last years statistics which showed 22 local councils among the top 100 highest spending clients in the construction industry, with the combined value of spending achieving a total figure of £3.3Bn, and with spending amounting to a 13 per cent proportion of top client spending.

Adding to this, the average value of construction projects listed among Glenigan’s top 100 rankings this year was calculated at a value of £15.1M, in contrast to the same figure from last year which averaged at £12M.

The council which, according to Glenigan’s data, spent the most money on construction projects this year was Birmingham City Council which, ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, commissioned the construction of a £350M athletes’ village.

Whereas, in second place came the Manchester City Council which has spent almost £400M on construction projects within the past 12 months, although most of this spending was dedicated to the £330M refurbishment of the Manchester City Library.

Achieving the position as the fifth highest spending local authority on Glenigan’s top 100 construction client rankings was the Leeds City Council which spent a sum of £90M on a public transport investment programme.

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh City Council entered into the top ten of highest spending councils through a £90M tram extension project which extends from York Place to Bellhaven.

The Greater London Authority, however, was the third greatest spending council by Glenigan’s calculations despite spending within London’s 32 boroughs being down by a proportion of 11 per cent last year and down by further eight per cent in the past 12 months.

In particular, 22 London councils, including the Greater London Authority, featured on Glenigan’s top 100 ranking construction clients for this year after spending a combined figure of £2.3Bn.

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