2027 Construction Trends

The construction industry is entering a new chapter, and the outlook is brighter than many expect. While insolvencies and fewer tenders on portals have left some contractors cautious, the signs point to renewed opportunity. Businesses that have weathered the challenges of legislation, material costs and price uncertainty are well placed to benefit from what lies ahead. 

This article looks ahead at a fortunately more positive future for the industry, including the top 5 construction market trends we can expect to see in 2027, so contractors can plan ahead with confidence, including: 

• Housing continuing to dominate the construction market 
• Higher-value projects 
• More work on higher-risk buildings under the Building Safety Act 
• Growth is no longer isolated to London and the South – more opportunities open up across the UK 
• Investment in education projects 

By keeping an eye on these construction trends, businesses can start to plan their strategy and build their pipeline as these opportunities grow. 

 

1. Construction sector outlook: housing continues to dominate  

Similar to 2025 and 2026 trends, the Housing sector continues be the bedrock of the construction industry, as uncovered in our 2026 Index Report.

£25 billion in housing projects were published in 2025 (1st Jan-31st Dec) on our platform, and it’s still on track to be one of the highest value sectors on our platform for projects published this year, making up £17 billion so far (based on projects published between Q1-Q3, 1st Jan-30th Sept 2026).

House building is still behind Labour’s 1.5m target by 2030, where it’s set to fall short by half a million homes¹ however, opportunities are still coming through the pipeline, with promising tenders ahead as more HRBs have been approved at Gateway 2 (see trend 3), and the promise of more work for construction contractors. 

 

2. Larger value projects 

As uncovered in our 2026 Marketplace Construction Market Index Report, project value is set to increase or remain high. Over the last year, our data has revealed a similar pattern, with fewer projects being published but with a larger price attached. 

The construction industry still hasn’t recovered from the disruption of Covid in 2020³: even though activity slowly returning, main contractors are having to incorporate regulatory changes such as the Building Safety Levy into their tenders, which means price squeezing during the enquiries stage to make up for the funds. This then falls on subcontractors as they have to submit even more competitive bids. 

Despite this, with more HRB submissions making their way through the Gateway approval process (see point 3), this indicates more work is on the horizon for more work for subcontractors across multiple work categories.  

Furthermore, with recent initiatives such as the Social Value Model and the Procurement Act legislation, it is in main contractors’ best interests to prioritise the Most Advantageous Tender over the Most Economical, by not focusing on price so much. 

 

3. More work on higher-risk buildings (HRBs) 

Just over a year ago, it looked like the construction industry had become stagnant: March 2025 saw 50% of applications for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) rejected at Gateway 2, or finished flats lying empty at Gateway 3⁴. 

2026 tells a different story: reform of the Building Safety Regulator has transformed Building Control Approval for the better. More in-house technical staff have been trained and hired, meaning delays in reviewing submissions have dropped. Between May and July 2026, approval rates for new build HRB applications increased to 91%⁵. This provides a lifeline for the construction market, meaning work can begin to complete the builds. With more approvals and more work, this indicates more work is coming down the future pipeline. 

 

4. Signs of growth across the UK beyond the South/London 

The market is starting to show signs of growth beyond England’s capital and the South – a different story to 2025. 

In Q2, the North West overtook London to take the lead, as it has done for nearly every quarter in 2025, following the publication of several frameworks, contributing  to over £1 trillion in value – the highest number we’ve seen so far on our platform. 3 of the 5 top regions, were outside of London and the South, with over £1.3 trillion in value of projects published between Q1 and Q3 of 2026. 

Region	Number of projects published	Total value of projects published
North West	290	£1,310,258,479,950
London & Middlesex	485	£13,645,270,000
Wales	110	£4,036,395,550
Hampshire	68	£3,626,277,000
Scotland	193	£3,125,710,000

With frameworks comes future work thus a promising sign of work to come in the North West. London came 2nd with £13 billion in value, whilst Wales and Scotland Hampshire was 4th with the fewest projects published in the top 5, but still totally £3.6 billion.

 

5. Education and New Builds 

Based on our platform data, Q1 to Q3 figures show New Builds lead the way with £1.3 trillion in project value published.  

This is helped by the frameworks published in Q2 2026, including opportunities for military establishments and general mixed use developments. There was also significant investment by the Department for Education, for new build schools in Q3, along with a new build Center Parcs holiday village in Scotland and Wellbeing resort in Manchester. 

As more of these opportunities are awarded to main contractors, subcontractors can expect to see these in the market in future, ready to tender on and secure future contracts. 

Overall, construction market trends are showing a positive upturn in activity, with more opportunities on the horizon and a bounce back. A key question remains: with an ageing workforce and too few people training to fill the vacancies, will there be enough skilled workers left to fulfil these contracts? 

Plan your strategy for 2027 and build your construction business pipeline with confidence. 

Don’t forget you can view opportunities on Once For All Marketplace and see what’s happened in the industry in our quarterly construction market reports. 

 

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