Glenigan comments on the Chancellor’s Budget announcements

Allan Wilen, Economics Director at Glenigan, has welcomed several measures announced in today’s Budget, highlighting their potential impact on housing delivery, regional growth, data centre investment and defence-related construction opportunities. 

Support for first-time buyers 

“We welcome the focus on first-time buyers. Helping people with their deposits should bring more buyers into the market, which means faster completions and more developers opening new sites. In addition, the decision to defer building regulation changes for the remainder of this Parliament and to ease biodiversity requirements on brownfield developments will provide developers with greater certainty, enabling them to bring forward new projects.” 

Fiscal discipline 

“Fiscal rules might sound dry, but they are important for construction, so it was good to hear the commitment to fiscal discipline today. This should help protect capital funding, ease pressure on government borrowing costs and improve public services over time. Broader economic growth should follow, generating opportunities across government-funded construction sectors.” 

Devolution funding 

“Devolution needs money behind it. The Budget provides a funding roadmap, with mayors directly receiving a growing share of business rates and income tax revenues.” 

Data centres 

“The Data Centre Covenant announced by the Chancellor highlights the Government’s objective of securing 6GW of AI data centre capacity in the UK by 2030, while mitigating the impact on the UK’s electricity infrastructure, local communities and the environment.” 

Defence spending 

“Acceleration in defence spending could open up opportunities for the construction industry. The Chancellor has a difficult balance to strike, though. More defence spending has to be paid for at a time when there is not much money to go around. So it was good to hear the commitment to fiscal discipline today.

It is hard to say how much of this will reach construction. A large share will go on equipment rather than buildings. The construction element includes military housing, barracks and wider defence sites across the UK. Much of the existing estate needs improving. Better facilities will help the UK retain trained, skilled soldiers and other personnel in service.” 

About Allan Wilen 

Allan Wilen heads up Glenigan’s Economics Unit and has more than 30 years’ experience providing market analysis and forecasts on UK construction and the built environment. Following 20 successful years as Economics Director at the Construction Products Association, Allan joined Glenigan 12 years ago. During this time, Allan and his team have helped hundreds of businesses confidently develop their market strategies. 

Allan sits on the Consulting Committee on Construction Industry Statistics for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is a member of a Construction Leadership Council working group, and is a guest lecturer in construction at the University of Reading.

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