Construction output in the UK education sector has seen 4 years of consistent growth and reached a peak in 2016, however, from 2017 forecasts indicate that overall education output will decline slightly over the next 3 years before returning to growth in 2020 and 2021.

Overall education sector construction output is estimated to be worth around £11bn in 2018.

While capital budgets remain constrained in the schools and colleges sector, the need for investment is recognised by the current Government, which announced £23bn of capital investment in the 2015 Spending Review to cover the opening of 500 Free Schools and the provision of over 600,000 additional school places.

In the 2017 Spring Budget, it also pledged an additional £320m to help fund new free schools as part of plans to increase investment in local infrastructure and relieve pressure on local authorities.

Under the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), the first phase of which is currently underway, around 260 schools are expected to be rebuilt, while the Government has allocated a further £2bn for the second phase.

In Scotland, the Schools for the Future Programme is expected to deliver around 112 schools, while in Wales, the main investment programme is the 21st Century Schools Building Programme, which aims to upgrade and extend the entire stock of schools in Wales.

University construction work remains a much smaller market than the schools & colleges sector. However, despite the increase in tuition fees, student numbers continue to expand in the higher education sector, placing great pressure on teaching, research and residential infrastructure.

Construction output is forecast to rise in the HE sector until 2021, as UK universities continue to invest in new buildings and upgraded buildings.

Going forward, higher education sector workloads are expected to be boosted by key long-term capital building programmes announced by universities as they seek to invest in research, teaching and accommodation facilities, compete to attract the highest paying students and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead as a result of Brexit.



The ‘Construction in the Higher Education and Student Accommodation Sector - UK 2018-2022’ report is published by AMA Research and is available now at www.amaresearch.co.uk or by calling 01242 235724.

To reflect their findings AMA Research have teamed up with sister company Barbour ABI to produce an interactive map displaying the UK's current top 10 higher education construction projects:



To find out more about construction in the education sector check out our Education Hub.