Cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald has downgraded its tender price forecasts as caution grips the market.<\/p>\n
The firm warns that delays in project conversion, a softening economic outlook and policy-driven cost escalations are compounding market fragility and limiting the pace of recovery.<\/p>\n
In it latest forecast for the second quarter, G&T warns contractors are battling a mounting logjam of feasibility work as clients hesitate to press go on live projects.<\/p>\n
The latest G&T market update warns that while enquiry levels remain healthy, actual workloads are flatlining.<\/p>\n
Many schemes are stuck in early-stage limbo as developers fret over cost, value, and delivery risk.<\/p>\n
Residential remains the hardest hit, with high-density housing schemes delayed or axed amid affordability concerns, soaring build costs, and red tape from the Building Safety Act.<\/p>\n
Government pledges to boost housing are also being choked off by planning delays and stretched local authority resources.<\/p>\n
The forecasters say public sector and infrastructure work is more reliable, with long-term funding pipelines especially in water and energy.<\/p>\n
But even in this sector, firms report delivery is often hampered by drawn-out approvals.<\/p>\n
As a result of downward pressure, GT has ticked down tender inflation from 2.75% to 2.25% this year, with 2026 also marked down from 2.75% to 2.5%.<\/p>\n
The cost consultant’s market survey revealed clients are increasingly focused on de-risking and won\u2019t proceed unless compliance, ROI and value are all watertight.<\/p>\n
It says that across the industry, confidence is muted.<\/p>\n
Tier 1s and Tier 2s are staying cautious, pricing in risk premiums and limiting exposure to complex jobs. Many are chasing fewer tenders and prioritising margin protection over growth.<\/p>\n
In some areas, competition is picking up\u2014but only because workloads are thinning out. Risk-adjusted pricing is keeping overall build costs firm, despite softening demand.<\/p>\n
“Looking forward, most market participants anticipate subdued growth and a patchy recovery for the remainder of 2025.<\/p>\n
“However, pockets of resilience\u2014particularly in infrastructure, public sector retrofit and fit-out\u2014will provide some ballast, but the prevailing mood is one of cautious stability, with most waiting for clearer economic signals before re-engaging at scale.<\/p>\n
“For now, stagnation\u2014not contraction\u2014best captures the current mood in UK construction.”<\/p>\n
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from Construction Enquirer https:\/\/ift.tt\/9S3BaHC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald has downgraded its tender price forecasts as caution grips the market. The firm warns that delays in project conversion, a softening economic outlook and policy-driven cost escalations are compounding market fragility and limiting the pace of recovery. In it latest forecast for the second quarter, G&T warns contractors are battling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-5530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-construction-enquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5531,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5530\/revisions\/5531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}