{"id":166396,"date":"2026-10-07T09:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=166396"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:50:15","slug":"uncertainty-adds-2tr-global-construction-costs-delivery-confidence-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/uncertainty-adds-2tr-global-construction-costs-delivery-confidence-falls\/166396\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty adds almost $2tr to global construction costs as delivery confidence falls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confidence in the global construction sector has fallen sharply over the past year, as organisations battle escalating cost pressures, supply chain disruption and persistent geopolitical instability<\/h2>\n

According to new research from Currie & Brown<\/a>, uncertainty has added on average 12.4% to respondents\u2019 global construction costs over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

Applied to forecast global construction spending, this represents almost $2tr in 2026 \u2013 close to the annual economic output of Brazil and enough to build 2,000 hospitals.<\/p>\n

Dr Alan Manuel, group chief executive officer at Currie & Brown, commented: \u201cAn extra $2tr of cost to build the world\u2019s homes, hospitals and critical infrastructure adds up to projects that arrive late, break budget, are scaled back, or never get built at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is confidence in the construction industry falling?<\/h3>\n

This decline in confidence reflects the mounting pressures facing project teams. According to the research, confidence has fallen across every measure tracked, with the sharpest declines in the two areas that matter most to project viability \u2013 time and budget.<\/p>\n

Seven in ten (70%) respondents identified global material cost inflation<\/a> as having a high impact on project delivery, 64% identified energy price volatility and 59% identified supply chain disruption. Economic policy change (56%) and labour and skills shortages (54%) are also significant factors.<\/p>\n

These risks are closely connected and can amplify one another, increasing the overall pressure on project costs and delivery. Concerningly, organisations expect most of these risks to worsen over the next 12 to 24 months \u2013 with 65% expecting material cost inflation to intensify further, and 58% expecting the same for energy price volatility.<\/p>\n

Despite rising construction costs, some businesses are still hitting targets<\/h3>\n

Despite the overall rise in global construction costs, the research identifies a distinct group of organisations reporting consistently higher levels of delivery confidence<\/a> and experiencing fewer severe impacts from uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Representing around 32% of respondents, these \u2018higher maturity’ organisations continue to invest strategically through periods of uncertainty, building capability in the areas associated with stronger decision-making, including:<\/p>\n