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26 Summer 2021 N ew research highlights that the construction industry had grown nearly 6% in early spring 2021, meaning that new work and repair and maintenance are £334m above pre-pandemic levels. The research, conducted by specialist on-site storage company SiteStak, looked at the latest gures from the O ce of National Statistics alongside UK Government data to discover the latest trends in building and construction. In line with the increase in growth, new orders have surged by more than £1.2m in Q1 of 2021 compared to Q4 of 2020. This represents 12.2%. Sales of Sitestak’s own storage management system were up around 45% year-on-year. Of all UK new builds, 79% represent housing, which is the highest gure since 2000. Of this number, London is also seeing an 11% increase in housing builds since 2019. Further investigation into search data not only backs this gure but is encouraging for the industry, with the term ‘new build’ seeing increased interest over the last two years and searches for ‘new builds near me’ more than doubling between April 2020 and April 2021 (14,800 vs 33,100). Although house builds are massively on the up, new infrastructure is leading the way across the construction industry as we’ve entered 2021, with high-grossing projects such as Euston HS2, HS2 Northolt Tunnels and HS2 Chiltern & Colne Valley all ones to watch this year. << CONSTRUCTION WORK £334M ABOVE PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS