Featured Sector: Health

Underlying value of construction projects starting on site. (Excludes individual projects of more than £100 million and framework agreements).

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Strong government spending on health led to a bright year for construction in the sector during 2008.

However, as this funding was reduced there was a marked drop in the underlying value of planning approvals which dragged on output since 2009.

Indeed, recently the flow of projects has been extremely restricted. Though there was a 7% lift in the underlying value of project starts over 2011, this was off a low base after two years of decline. The trend turned negative again over the final quarter of 2011, with a 13% decline. As the sector is so reliant on public investment, changes to the way that money is invested in the NHS as well as the financial restrictions placed on it after the Comprehensive Spending Review will continue to weigh on the value of new work over this year and into the next.