Holcim reacts to the latest UK Construction PMI which shows the sector has been contracting for 17 consecutive months.
The latest UK Construction PMI, published 4 June 2026, shows the sector remains firmly in decline, with activity contracting for the seventeenth consecutive month and the pace of decline now at its fastest in six years. Housebuilding continues to lead the downturn, while commercial activity is also weakening, against a backdrop of rising costs and ongoing supply chain disruption.
In response, Ian Dean, Managing Director at Holcim UK, said: "The latest PMI should put to rest the idea that the sector is simply in a holding pattern. Seventeen months of contraction, now at the fastest pace in six years, points to something more entrenched – a new normal.
"What the data shows is a market where viable schemes are no longer flowing through at the same rate, particularly in housing and commercial. The constraint is not just sentiment or cost, but one of confidence in delivery. When borrowing costs remain high, input prices are volatile and supply chains are unpredictable, projects grind to a halt.
"That is why pipeline visibility is now the defining issue. A shrinking order book is a signal that the system between concept and construction is struggling to function efficiently under current conditions. The industry's default response has been to treat this as a demand problem. It is not. Demand for housing, infrastructure and the energy transition remains. The issue is whether the sector is structured to deliver that demand in a more volatile, cost-sensitive environment.
"At the moment, the answer is not consistently yes. Too many projects are still being designed against assumptions that no longer hold. Cost certainty is weak, programmes are exposed to disruption, and risk is pushed down the chain rather than managed upfront. In that environment, hesitation is rational.
"Where activity is holding up, in infrastructure and energy, it is not by accident. These are areas where pipelines are clearer, funding is more structured and delivery is planned over a longer horizon; that stability is what allows projects to move forward.
"The lesson is straightforward - viability depends less on ambition and more on how well projects are put together. Designs need to reflect current cost realities, materials need to be used with greater efficiency, and supply chains need to be brought into decisions earlier, not later.
"This is where the industry needs to shift from waiting for conditions to improve to adapting how projects are defined and delivered so they work within the conditions that exist today.
"Recovery will come, but it will not look like previous cycles. The sector that emerges will be one that is more disciplined, more efficient and more focused on certainty. The businesses that lead that shift will shape what comes next."
