Construction SMEs predict bumper three-year rise

Seven in 10 project professionals working for SMEs in the UK construction sector are expecting a rise in the number of appointed projects over the next three years, according to a survey by the Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered membership organisation for the project profession.

In a positive sign for the UK economy, APM polled over 500 project professionals working for SMEs and 70% in the construction sector said they are anticipating an increase in the total number of projects that they are working on between 2024 and 2027. In addition, over half (57%) also anticipate an increase in project budget size in the same period.

Currently over a third (37%) of those construction-based SME projects professionals polled said the average size project they are working on is between £100 – £299.99k, 44% are working on projects of over £300k, and 18% are working on projects over £1million.

Construction is predicting the third largest growth (70%) out of all 17 sectors polled behind only engineering (87%) and financial services (81%).

Professor Adam Boddison OBE, Chief Executive of APM, said:“It’s very encouraging to see project professionals working across the UK’s construction SME sector predict such a bumper rise in project growth over the coming years, despite the current challenging economic landscape.

“Project professionals play an important role in driving economic growth and our latest survey shows that the project management profession has a great deal of optimism within the built environment for the next few years. However, there are challenges that stand in the way of this expected growth becoming a reality.

“Smaller companies are less likely to employ dedicated project managers, so in many SMEs, projects will often be managed by people for whom project management is not their main skill. It is therefore important that they are provided with project management approaches that are quick to learn and simple to use but provide effective management of projects.

“To ensure the growth and development of the project pipeline, employers must first ensure that they are investing in their workforce. The successful future of projects rests heavily on those delivering them.”

The survey further revealed that 86% of the same SME construction respondents identified skills shortages in project management at their employer with soft skills and technical skills such as personal time management, team management and solutions development ranked as the most important attributes for project delivery.

The skills gap featured prominently when the survey asked about the biggest challenges facing future project growth. The top-ranked answer was ‘a lack of data literacy within my team/organisation’ (selected by 34% of respondents) followed by ‘a lack of understanding among employers or team leaders of future skills needs for project professionals’ (29%) and ‘a lack of investment in training/professional development within my organisation’ (27%).

A large majority (88%) said their employer has enough time and resources to dedicate to training and development for project professionals.

However, only 63% said their SME places value on training and developing or upskilling project professionals.

The survey follows APM’s recent Golden Thread Report 2024, conducted by PwC Research, which found project management in the UK contributes £186.8 billion of annual gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy – a growth of over £30bn in the last five years. The construction sector GVA in project management rose by 23% from £27.08bn to £33.19bn.

APM is committed to developing and promoting the value of project management to deliver improved project outcomes for the benefit of society. It supports SME project professionals with memberships, qualifications, chartered status, events and its online community hub. To learn more, visit www.apm.org.uk

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