Build Smart, Build Better
Download reportRethinking construction productivity, from insight to action
The UK construction industry is 20% less productive today than it was in the 1970s.
With a £718bn infrastructure pipeline over the next 10 years, high investor demand for real assets across the UK, from data centres to Grade A office space, and with ambitious housing targets – construction’s productivity gap is a threat to national growth.
Our Build Smart, Build Better report aims to explain why and propose how we can fix it.
By bringing together insights from more than 200 projects, interviews with over 25 clients, experts and policymakers, and real-life case studies, we explore why and what needs to change.
We’ve estimated that over £67bn across the UK infrastructure pipeline could be saved if construction’s productivity is bolstered.
What this report shows:
- Why productivity has stagnated for decades.
- How workforce structure impacts performance.
- Where value is lost across project lifecycles.
Key insights:
- Up to £20,000 per hour is lost on large projects due to workforce churn - equivalent to £1.3bn annual productivity loss across UK construction.
- Productivity outcomes are largely determined before construction even begins.
- Well structured projects see productivity and sustainability improve in tandem.
This report is just the beginning. Mace Construct is committing to measure and publish its own productivity performance, with the ambition of becoming the UK’s most productive contractor by 2030. This is about moving beyond insight to set a clear benchmark for the industry.
Download the full report to understand what needs to change now.
