The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) is the leading provider of cost and carbon data to the UK built environment. Over 4,000 subscribing consultants, clients and contractors use BCIS products to control costs, manage budgets, mitigate risk and improve project performance.
Published: 25/08/2022
Construction costs, as measured by the BCIS General Building Cost Index (GBCI), continue to grow at an unprecedented rate. An annual growth of 13.8% was identified in May 2022.
The ongoing impact of several factors including; COVID-19, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine has led to, economic uncertainty, price volatility, supply chain issues, materials and labour shortages, and a steep rise in energy cost.
The annual review of BCIS Comprehensive Major Works, Minor Works and Alterations & Refurbishment datasets show that construction rates (average of all trades) have increased by an average of 14.5% over the last 12 months. However, the movements vary greatly between the different trades in the industry.
Rates for metal works increased around 25%, structural steel works 42% and concrete works by 16%. These categories have many variants, each having different percentage increases. So, if generic increases are used, projects could be incorrectly costed. Errors in the costing process could have a negative impact on an organisations profit.
The example graphic below shows the price change from 2Q2021 to 2Q2022 to highlight significant growth in construction costs. The three different categories in the graph are as highlighted above – metal works, structural steel and concrete works.
Source: BCIS
*Rates for metal works increased around 25%, structural steel works 42% and concrete works by 16% from 2Q2021 to 2Q2022.
