Mace report lays bare construction’s lost productivity
Summary
Mace Construct’s report argues that weak workforce stability is a major drag on construction productivity, with high-churn sites delivering lower value per hour and potentially adding significant cost across the UK’s major projects pipeline. It says early design decisions, digital maturity and modern methods of construction can materially improve margins, output and delivery certainty, particularly on public sector schemes.
Why it matters
For residential property surveyors, the findings are relevant to the delivery of housing and social housing projects, where productivity, procurement approach and design standardisation can affect programme, cost and build quality. The report also highlights wider adoption of MMC and preconstruction planning, both of which can influence defect risk and project certainty.
Key points
- High workforce turnover on large sites is linked to lower productivity and higher cost.
- Digital maturity and MMC are associated with better commercial performance and higher value per worker.
- The report calls for productivity metrics to be used in public sector bid evaluation.
- It recommends two-stage procurement, preconstruction services agreements and longer-term frameworks.
- Standardised design palettes and wider use of robotics/AI are proposed to improve delivery.
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