Commercial activity hits ten-year high

The UK commercial building sector grew at its fastest rate in ten years in February, according to the latest Savills’ commercial development activity survey.

On balance 35.7% of developers saw an increase in commercial activity in February compared to the previous month, up from 33.7% on balance in January.

The activity index broke the previous series high of 34.5% in November.

All areas covered by the survey – including new build and refurbishment activity across the offices, retail, leisure and industrial sectors – recorded growth in February, led by private new-build.

Simon Collett, head of building and project consultancy at Savills, said: “The positive outlook for the market is clearly feeding through to development activity levels considering February’s survey high – with future expectations remaining robust we expect to see further improvements in activity levels over the coming months.”