UK construction market sustainability: April 2025 Glenigan trends report

The UK construction sector is contending with uneven ground. According to Glenigan’s April 2025 Construction Review, project starts have declined 21% year-on-year, and main contract awards are down 12%. Yet detailed planning approvals rose 6%, a signal that long-term development ambitions remain strong — even if near-term confidence is under pressure.

For sustainability professionals, specifiers, and product manufacturers, these macro trends are more than just figures — they provide a roadmap for where low-carbon innovation and green specification will be most critical. As government investment ramps up and logistics and infrastructure projects surge, the window to embed sustainability from the outset is both urgent and strategic.

UK construction market sustainability: April 2025 Glenigan trends report

5:15

Short-term turbulence, long-term opportunity

Despite only 1% projected GDP growth in 2025, the UK government is increasing capital investment in key public services. The Chancellor’s Spring Statement pledged a 13% rise in departmental capital budgets for 2025/26, with health, housing, and education among the top beneficiaries. Simultaneously, global volatility — particularly new US tariffs on UK construction product exports — is reshaping supply dynamics and intensifying material sourcing pressures.

This duality places sustainability at the heart of risk mitigation and market differentiation. Manufacturers that can offer low-embodied carbon products with third-party verified environmental data will be best positioned to retain market access and secure early specification.

Construction and Infrastructure LCA: Decarbonize buildings or infrastructure projects by optimizing embodied carbon early-on with One Click LCA software.

Housing: social value must go hand-in-hand with carbon performance

The residential market is contracting in volume, with project starts down 19% and planning approvals dropping 39% year-on-year. Yet the government’s £2bn commitment to building 18,000 new homes is a call to action — particularly for suppliers and consultants offering verified low-carbon housing solutions, social housing typologies, or modular and offsite construction.

Project pipelines may be slim now, but strategic investments in carbon benchmarking, MMC integration, and whole-life carbon modeling are critical if the sector is to deliver on both affordability and environmental performance.

£2bn

18,000 new homes

Industrial: a logistics boom drives carbon accountability

Industrial construction surged in early 2025, with project starts up 66% year-on-year and warehousing accounting for 62% of activity. This growth is propelled by demand for supply chain resilience and e-commerce fulfilment, but also creates significant embodied emissions due to the material intensity of these assets.

Sustainability consultants, structural engineers, and envelope designers have a role to play in reducing whole-life carbon through material substitution, circular design principles, and passive performance strategies. In regions like the East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber, aligning low-carbon materials with regional growth hotspots will be essential.

Offices: Data centers spotlight energy intensity

The office sector grew 28% in project starts, driven by large-scale data center developments. These facilities are energy-intensive by design, and while operational emissions often dominate discussions, the embodied impact of the construction phase is considerable.

With data centers representing a growing portion of office projects, there's a pressing need for early carbon modeling, low-carbon concrete and steel alternatives, and product-level data to inform procurement decisions. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools and carbon-verified digital design workflows will help clients meet sustainability KPIs.

Civil engineering: embedding sustainability in major infrastructure

Civil engineering starts are down 51%, but detailed planning approvals jumped 110%. Major schemes like the £10.2bn Lower Thames Crossing and water sector capital programmes signal a future wave of work — offering long lead times for carbon planning.

PAS 2080-aligned infrastructure delivery, carbon forecasting, and supplier decarbonization strategies will be essential to meeting not just project goals, but national net-zero commitments. Consultants and contractors have a rare chance to align capital works with systemic carbon reduction from design through operation.

Kier case study: The journey to net-zero for infrastructure and the role of PAS 2080 in decision-making:

Planning approvals are up, suggesting a future rebound and opportunities for early-stage sustainability influence
Government-funded sectors — health, education, housing, infrastructure — are the most resilient and offer policy-aligned growth opportunities
Embodied carbon and environmental transparency are becoming critical for specification and procurement
Digital tools, environmental product declarations, and life-cycle assessments are increasingly non-negotiable for compliance and client reporting

One Click LCA: powering low-carbon decisions at every stage of the construction project

As the construction market pivots towards major public-sector and infrastructure projects, the demand for transparent, measurable sustainability is growing. One Click LCA enables manufacturers, consultants, and contractors to calculate and optimize embodied carbon, generate EPDs, and deliver whole-life carbon assessments that meet regulatory and client expectations.

Whether you’re working to secure specification with environmental product declarations (EPD), respond to PAS 2080, meet GLA planning requirements, or streamline life-cycle assessments (LCA), One Click LCA offers the tools to act on sustainability — confidently, credibly, and at scale.

Learn more at oneclicklca.com