{"id":519452,"date":"2025-04-29T09:50:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=519452"},"modified":"2025-04-29T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T08:51:08","slug":"uk-construction-activity-march-2025-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/cn-intelligence\/uk-construction-activity-march-2025-retail-29-04-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"UK construction activity March 2025: Retail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"everviz-CQjjbVVWr\" class=\"everviz-CQjjbVVWr\"><script src=\"https:\/\/app.everviz.com\/inject\/CQjjbVVWr\/?v=18\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/div>\n<h3>Retail overview<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>56 per cent decrease in project starts year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>94 per cent decrease in main contract awards against a year ago<\/li>\n<li>33 per cent decrease in detailed planning approvals compared to the previous year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Performance in the retail sector remained weak with project starts, main contract awards and detailed planning approvals all down year-on-year. No major projects reached any of the three stages of the development pipeline. More positively, there was an eight per cent growth in project starts quarter-on-quarter.<\/p>\n<p>The retail industry is facing increased cost pressures including higher labour costs and vacant retail premises which is deterring investment in retail construction.<\/p>\n<h3>Types of projects started<\/h3>\n<p>Most categories in the retail sector faced a decline, with only shopping centres and supermarkets bucking the trend<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Supermarkets accounted for the largest share (72 per cent) again, having grown 39 per cent year-on-year to total \u00a3254m<\/li>\n<li>Totalling \u00a366m, shop projects starting on site decreased 88 per cent on a year ago<\/li>\n<li>Totalling \u00a316m, shopping centres were 45 per cent higher year-on-year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Regional<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Project starts were down in most regions<\/li>\n<li>Mixed performance in detailed planning approvals, with half of the regions down year-on-year<\/li>\n<li>The North East and Wales experienced growth in both project starts and approvals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The North West dominated retail project starts, despite a 31 per cent decrease on a year ago. The region accounted for 13 per cent of starts at \u00a347m. London fell 88 per cent compared to last year, totalling \u00a340m and accounting for 11 per cent of the sector. The North East, on the other hand, grew 14 per cent against last year to total \u00a334m.<\/p>\n<p>The South West led detailed planning approvals, having grown 76 per cent to total \u00a382m, accounting for a quarter of the sector. Accounting for 18 per cent, the North West also jumped 91 per cent to total \u00a359m. The South East grew 35 per cent year-on-year to total \u00a338m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retail overview 56 per cent decrease in project starts year-on-year 94 per cent decrease in main contract awards against a year ago 33 per cent decrease in detailed planning approvals compared to the previous year Performance in the retail sector remained weak with project starts, main contract awards and detailed planning approvals all down year-on-year. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":472166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[74630,74655,74646],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Retail overview 56 per cent decrease in project starts year-on-year 94 per cent decrease in main contract 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