The impact of Brexit has been relatively confined in terms of the total market to date. In 2018, there was still growth in new industrial construction activity, and a confined decline in the commercial sectors overall, with the decline in office construction the most obvious manifestation of investment caution. At the same time, the government’s policy of restricting public spending continues to impact the market, while the private housing sector continues to grow strongly. What is evident is an increasing disparity between individual construction sectors, but not all of this directly reflects Brexit, with construction a notoriously cyclical sector and the timing of individual cycles being different.

The definitions used in this report for the construction sector are from the ONS. The civil engineering sector has been excluded, but a detailed report on this sector is available separately from Mintel (Civil Engineering). A number of sectors are defined within the construction sector, comprising both publicly- and privately-financed projects.

Public work is for any public authority such as government departments, public utilities, nationalised industries, universities, the Post Office, new town corporations, housing associations, etc.

Private work is for a private owner, organisation or developer, and includes work carried out by firms on their own initiative. It includes work where the private sector carries the majority of the risk/gain, i.e. in principle all PFI contracts are private.

The sectors include the following:

• Public sector housing: comprising housing schemes, homes for the elderly and the provision within housing sites of roads and services for utilities such as gas, water, electricity, sewage and drainage, which are financed either through local authorities or housing associations.

• Private sector housing: comprising all privately-owned buildings for residential use such as houses, flats, maisonettes, bungalows, cottages and the provision of services to new developments.

Public sector non-residential: which is defined as comprising a number of activities:

• Coal mining: all new coal mine construction, such as sinking shafts, tunnelling etc.

• Schools: state schools or colleges, including technical colleges and institutes of agriculture.

• Universities: including halls of residence and research establishments.

• Health: comprising hospitals, medical schools, clinics, welfare centres and adult training facilities.

• Offices: comprising local and central government offices, including town halls and offices for all public bodies except the armed forces and police headquarters.

• Factories: comprising all publicly-owned factories, shipyards, warehouses and skill centres.

• Garages: comprising buildings for storage, the repair and maintenance of road vehicles, transport workshops, bus depots, road goods transport depots and car parks.

• Shops: comprising municipal shopping developments for which the contract has been let by the local authority.

• Oil: comprising oil installations.

• Agriculture, entertainment and communications: comprising buildings and work on publicly-financed horticultural establishments, fen and agricultural drainage, and veterinary clinics. Theatres, restaurants, public swimming baths, caravan sites at holiday resorts, works and buildings at sports grounds, stadiums, racecourses etc. Post Offices, BBC and IBA installations.

• Miscellaneous: comprising all work not clearly covered by other previously identified headings, such as fire stations, police stations, prisons, reformatories, remand homes, civil defence work, UK Atomic Energy Authority work, council depots, museums, and libraries.

Private industrial: comprising factories, warehouses, wholesale depots, and all other work and building for the purpose of industrial production or processing, oil refineries, concrete fixed leg oil production platforms (but excluding rigs), and private steel works.

Private commercial: comprising a number of separate sectors:

• Offices: including all office buildings and banks.

• Shops: comprising all buildings for retail distribution, such as shops, department stores, retail markets, and showrooms.

• Entertainment: comprising theatres, concert halls, cinemas, hotels, public houses, restaurants, cafés, holiday camps, swimming pools, works and buildings at sports grounds, stadiums and other places of sport or recreation, and youth hostels.

• Garages: comprising repair garages, petrol filling stations, bus depots, goods transport depots and any other works or buildings for the storage, repair and maintenance of road vehicles, and car parks.

• Schools and colleges: comprising schools and colleges in the private sector, financed wholly from private funds.

• Agriculture: comprising all buildings and work on farms and horticultural establishments.

• Health: comprising all private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.

• Miscellaneous: comprising all work not clearly covered by other headings, such as exhibitions, caravan sites, churches and church halls.

Repair and maintenance is defined to include the following:

• Housing: including any conversion of, or extension to, any existing dwelling, and all other work such as improvement, renovation, refurbishment, planned maintenance and any other type of expenditure on repairs or maintenance.

• All other sectors: comprising repair and maintenance work of any type, including planned and contractual maintenance.

All values quoted in this report are at current prices unless otherwise specified. Some numbers in tables do not total exactly due to rounding.