Commercial sector investment fuels North West construction growth

A surge in private sector development is set to drive construction growth across the North West.

Glenigan’s latest research identifies 52 office projects—each valued at up to £100 million—that have secured detailed planning permission and are expected to break ground within the next year.

Procurement is moving forward on these schemes. For example, tenders are currently invited for the £92.5 million Mayfield Quarter office development in Manchester (pictured) (Project ID: 19385575).

Manchester central

Greater Manchester drives construction activity in the region and Deloitte’s latest Crane Hire survey for the area shows office work improved in 2024.

There was a 32% rise in refurbished and extended office space on the previous year with 1.6m sq ft completed or underway in 2024.

More major Manchester office schemes are also in the pipeline such as Henry Boot’s £140 million Colloco Development in St John’s, where work is expected to being later this spring (Project ID: 20319725).

Retail rise

Although the short-term pipeline of office work in the wider North West region weakened in the three months to January 2025, other parts of the commercial sector are more positive according to Glenigan‘s construction market intelligence.

The value of approved retail projects rose by 33%. There are 55 schemes at an underlying level (valued below £100 million) due to start on-site over the next year.

This ranges from a £17.5 million refurbishment of the Market Hall in Barrow-in-Furness, where Leck was recently appointed main contractor (Project ID: 21488634) to a second £30 million phase of the Liverpool Shopping Park with contractors currently working on bids (Project ID: 17037941).

Hotel boost

Deloitte’s research found 1,181 hotel beds set to complete construction over the next three years in Manchester in 2024.

These plans are boosting the region’s pipeline with a 44% rise in the underlying value of approved hotel & leisure schemes across the North West according to Glenigan’s research, which found 119 approved hotel & leisure schemes at an underlying level due to start in the next 12 months.

Approved jobs set to start include the £78 million Room2 Aparthotel in Manchester (Project ID: 18339131) and a £75 million golf and leisure village at Poulton-Le-Fylde (Project ID: 18388423).

Kier motors on

Kier has the largest market share in the North West after winning more than £300 million-worth of work over the 12 months to January 2025 according to Glenigan’s research, ahead of Morgan Sindall with orders totalling £200 million.

Willmott Dixon in fourth with commercial work helping push the group’s annual order book up to £155 million. This included the £63.4 million Greenheys office and laboratory development in Manchester (Project ID: 23073788) and a £17.2 million leisure development in Stockport (Project ID: 23087277).

 North West fortunes

With contractors filling their order books and more work being approved, the commercial sector should be central to the fortunes of the North West construction industry going forward.