Construction Market Report Q1 2026

Welcome to the first construction market report of 2026! Here, we reflect on what’s happened in the construction market using our very own Market Intelligence platform data from the last 3 months (1st January – 31st March 2026).   

We’ve also added data from our Tender Management platform for Q1 – useful if you want to learn more about the exclusive live opportunities being published only on our platform! 

Don’t forget, you can sign up to receive these updates straight to your inbox every quarter! 

 

What happened in 2026 Q1 in the construction market?

 

 

2026 Q1 showed a positive start to the year, with nearly a £4 billion increase in overall project value from Q1 last year! 

944 projects were published on Market Intelligence – up from 804 in Q4 – and far greater than 624 in 2025 Q1 at £11 billion. 

Despite the increase in projects being published, Q1 figures show a significant drop in project value from the previous quarter (£165 billion), however, this is due to several public sector education frameworks being published, with future work opportunities expected over the next few years. 

Overall, Q1 2026 tells a positive story, as predicted in our recent construction market reports, including our recent Marketplace Construction Health Index Report. 

Watch the video on our Q1 Construction Market Report:

 

 

2026 Q1 Published / Newly Added Projects 

Let’s dive deeper into the top published projects and regions. 

Similar trends to 2025 emerge, with London showing early signs of leading the way in terms of projects published, as it did for 3 consecutive quarters (Q2-Q4 2025). 2026 Q1 boasts £3.7 billion worth across 184 projects in the capital city – nearly 25% of the overall value across the last 3 months. Notable contracts include a £700 million extension to the British Library (also awarded in Q1, see below). 

The North West follows with £2.33 billion across 119 projects, comprised of large tenders such as the UK’s largest water adventure park in Manchester at £400 million (also awarded in Q1, see below), and a £286 million opportunity to build student accommodation at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

Average project value sits at £15.72m, slightly down from Q1 2025 £17.62m, contrary to our recent Health Index findings where project value increased over the last 7 years (based on our platform data). 

 

Region	Number of projects (Q1 2026)	Value
East Midlands	45	£781,430,000
East of England	100	£1,603,697,000
London	184	£3,703,747,000
North East	30	£401,830,000
North West	119	£2,338,708,000
Scotland	101	£1,239,650,000
South East	165	£1,414,300,000
South West	27	£326,770,000
Wales	20	£311,830,000
West Midlands	56	£594,785,000
Yorkshire	58	£904,590,000
Northern Ireland	18	£147,920,000
Republic of Ireland	15	£768,550,000

 

Which sectors are seeing the most projects added? 

Again, as discovered in our Health Index findings, Housing leads the way once more for yet another quarter. 242 projects at £3.88 billion were published on Market Intelligence, including student accommodation, plus new build Dwellings in Dublin and London at a collective £281 million. 

Next is Education. £3.03 billion worth of opportunities were published, making up 150 projects in Q1. This was comprised of the £700 million British Library opportunity, as well as a New Build school in Essex by the Department for Education (£88.5 million) and an £80 million school extension in Wales by Powys County Council. 

Office projects make up another of the top spots, with 106 projects published with a value of £1.39 billion. Overbury leads a £250 million fitting out project for HSBC in London, followed by McLaren Construction on a New Build office opportunity, also in London at £107 million. Scotland saw a £100 million New Build office project published for Sky UK, with Bowmer + Kirkland Ltd acting as the main contractor bidder. 

 

 

 

2026 Q1 Project Awards 

Onto Projects Awarded for Q1 2026: some opportunities were both published and awarded in the same quarter, and follows a similar pattern where awards are skewed across London, Scotland and the North West once again. 

Compared to Q1 last year, Q1 2026 shows an increase in the number of project awards from 596 to 721, and a significant jump in the total value, from £8 billion to £12.75 billion – nearly a ~59% increase! The same goes for average project value, jumping from £13.42 million (Q1 2025) to £17.69 million this quarter. 

Which sectors are most popular for projects awarded? 

Similar to Published Projects in Q1, the same sectors appear for Awarded:  

• Housing – 200 projects, £3.4 billion 
• Education – 109 projects, £2.2 billion 
• Offices – 98 projects, £1.71 billion 

The top 3 regions were the same leaders: 

• London – 156 projects, £4 billion 
• North-West – 61 projects, £1.4 billion 
• Scotland – 66 projects, £936 million 

A few projects were published and awarded on Market Intelligence in Q1 2026, including the British Library’s £700 million extension (project number 332829) and a £400m data centre (project number 325369) for the Royal Docks Data Centre Campus to meet the capital city’s growing demand for AI. Another notable Award includes a £400m adventure park in Manchester (project number 332450), presumably the UK’s largest water park. 

 

Top 10 Main Contractors with Projects Awarded 

In Q1, these main contractors came out top of projects awarded, including notable names in joint 9 to 15 with 6 project awards each! 

Top 10 Main Contractors with Projects Awarded (Q1)
Ranking	Main Contractor	Number of Projects Awarded
1	Morgan Sindall	65
2	Tilbury Douglas	19
3	BAM	13
4	Galliford Try	11
5	Caddick	10
6	Balfour Beatty	9
7	Clark Contracts	8
8	Bowmer & Kirkland	7
9=	Willmott Dixon	6
	Kier	6
	RG Carter	6
	Hill Partnership	6
	J Cheesmur	6
	John Graham	6
	Sunninghill	6

 

Q1 Tender Management overview 

Firstly, what is Tender Management? 

Main contractors publish their exclusive work packages (Invitations to Tender, ITTs) to our existing network of pre-qualified subcontractors, which then appear on the Opportunities Board as a Premium Leads (tagged as an ITT). 

These work packages are exclusive to Marketplace. 

When an opportunity has been published on Tender Management, subcontractors matching their criteria get notified, where they can request to submit pricing, even if they aren’t already in the main contractor’s supply chain. These are also searchable on the Opportunities Board. 

 

Key Tender Management figures for Q1 

 

 

 

Top work package types

 

Work Package type	Number of packages
DOOR	396
FLOOR	395
ELECTRICAL	335
ROOF	318
SCAFFOLD	215
MECHANICAL	197
PACKAGE	184
STEEL	174
FIRE	168
DECORATION	154
GROUND	144
PARTITION	138
JOINERY	132
PAINT	130
WINDOW	121
LANDSCAPE	110
CLAD	109
DEMOLITION	108
SUPPLY	108

Door work packages topped Q1 Tender Management figures, with an average of 16,000 ITTs published each month across 187 different main contractors. 

 

Top 10 work package locations Q1, 2026

 

What’s next? 

Q1 has revealed a strong start to the year for the construction industry! 

The overall value, average project value and number of opportunities being published and awarded are on the up since Q1 2025, with housing still leading the way, as supported by our Health Index Report findings. 

Even though numbers show a drop since Q4, this was down to large public sector education frameworks being published. Similar patterns emerged in Q1 2026 across published and awarded projects, with London, Scotland and the North-West leading the way, similarly with the same sectors: Housing, Education, Offices, again, as uncovered in our Index Health Report. 

Doors topped the highest number of work packages published on Tender Management in Q1, with the majority of overall work packages being published in London. 

Use Once For All’s Market Intelligence as your trusted resource for invaluable construction data, so you can build your business pipeline. Don’t forget to search our Opportunities Board for exclusive work packages you can tender for today!

 

 

 

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FAQs 

What is Market Intelligence? 

Market Intelligence provides comprehensive construction market intelligence via the Once For All platform, featuring exclusive construction tenders, private opportunities, public tenders, planning applications and more, so our customers are equipped with reliable, accurate data to find work. 

What is the difference between ‘Published’ and ‘Awarded’? 

• ‘Published’: projects that main contractors have reported as being in the tendering phase, indicating they are actively bidding for these opportunities. 
• ‘Awarded’: projects where the main contractor has confirmed that they have been awarded the contract.