Top 100 construction projects of 2025 to drive £34 billion boom

The Top 100 construction projects due to start in 2025 will generate £34 billion-worth of work according to Glenigan’s market analysis.

Civil engineering is due to provide the greatest boost with 45 of the Top 100 projects including the five biggest schemes set to begin this year.

The largest is the £8 billion Hornsea Project Four, which will provide an array of 180 wind turbines in Yorkshire and start in July (Project ID: 16095472).

The next two biggest are also energy developments. The £2.5 billion eastern Green Link 1 in North Yorkshire (Project ID: 20421858), and the similarly valued Green Volt

Offshore Wind Farm at Peterhead in Scotland (Project ID: 22377916) will begin in April and November respectively.

Utilities surge

The utilities sub-sector provides 17 schemes worth a total of £17 billion in the Top 100, including a swathe of other energy related developments.

These range from the £269 million Cottam Solar Farm in the East Midlands (Project ID: 22045316) to a £235 million multi-fuel scheme at Slough in Berkshire (Project ID: 22068878).

With water utilities beginning work on their latest spending round, major sewage schemes, such as the £85 million Knapp Mill Water Treatment Works in Dorset (Project ID: 22042619), also appear in the Top 100.

Infrastructure inroads

The other 28 civil engineering schemes due to start construction this year are in the infrastructure sector and have a combined value of nearly £7 billion.

The largest infrastructure job – and the fourth largest in Glenigan’s Top 100 – is a £1.3 billion widening of the A12 at Chelmsford in Essex, where work should commence in March (Project ID: 14433554)

Although the incoming Labour government subsequently cancelled some major roads schemes on value for money grounds, others survived such as the £340 million M60/M62/M66 Simister Island in the North West, where a start is due in September (Project ID: 19342018).

The Scottish government is also pressing on with a dualling of a major stretch of the A9 and construction of a £308 million package covering Tomatin to Hoy will begin in April (Project ID: 14106196).

Residential rebound

The new government wants to build an ambitious 1.5 million homes in this parliament, and the residential sector will provide 20 of the 100 biggest projects, worth a combined £4 billion, to start in 2025.

Eleven are in the private residential sector. The largest – and ranked 14^th overall – is the £400 million Spray Street Quarter development in London (Project ID: 16184043).

Nine social housing schemes worth a total of £2.3 billion feature in the Top 100. Many are maintenance agreements, such as a £1 billion Guinness Partnership programme (Project ID: 24314567).

Commercial boost

The private sector is also funding a number of big construction schemes set to start this year, notably in hotel & leisure, which provided 11 of the 100 biggest schemes to begin this year, including the £250 million Therme development in Manchester (Project ID: 19255727).

Meanwhile, the commercial sector provides nine of the Top 100, worth a total of £1.6 billion. The largest is the £400 million G Park Docklands Data Centre in London (pictured), which is anticipated to start in May (Project ID: 23119996).

Booming 2025

With projects in the Top 100 coming from ten different sectors, the construction industry is due for a widespread boost in 2025.