Surveyors raise concerns about financial and regulatory obstacles
Construction workloads remain stable in the UK with infrastructure expected to be the busiest sector in the year ahead, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
RICS today published its first quarter 2025 UK Construction Monitor today, which revealed that the overall headline net balance for workloads stood at -1%, mirroring the previous quarter鈥檚 reading.
Infrastructure posted a strong net balance of +13% and, within that, the energy sub-sector reported a net balance of +35%.
The net balance for expectations for the next 12 months was positive (17%), with infrastructure poised to lead sector growth (32%).
Despite a steady outlook for workloads, 63% of surveyors reported financial challenges as the most significant barrier, followed by regulatory and planning issues. Some respondents also reported concerns about a 鈥渂rain drain鈥� to the Middle East and North America.
RICS chief economist, Simon Rubinsohn, said: 鈥淐onstruction activity was largely flat over the quarter with respondents expressing a little more caution in the face of the heightened level uncertainty both at a global and domestic level.
鈥淚n particular, concerns about the implementation of tariffs and what this might mean for costs and economic activity as well as the potential impact of the uplift in employer NI contributions are highlighted in the feedback.鈥�
RICS UK Construction Monitor
The RICS UK Residential Market Survey is a monthly sentiment survey of chartered surveyors. A total of 1,268 surveyors responded to the latest survey.
Surveyors are asked 14 questions on a range of topics including workloads, new business enquiries and optimism about the future
The 鈥榥et balance鈥� refers to the proportion of respondents reporting a rise in a metric minus those reporting a fall.
For example, if 30% reported an increase in workloads and 5% reported a fall, the net balance would be +25%.
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