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What Actually Drives Construction Productivity?

6th, August 2026

Crane Forks cage lifted with a crane in a busy construction site

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At Conquip, we focus our efforts across the entire project lifecycle — from temporary works and equipment design to manufacturing and after-sales services. Throughout, we do everything we can to help contractors of all sizes and briefs improve productivity in both efficiency and effectiveness areas. And the earlier we start working with contractors on a project, the better the potential improvements for all involved.

But why do we talk so much about improving productivity for contractors? According to the ONS ‘Construction productivity, Great Britain’ report, between 1970 and 2024, multi-factor productivity has fallen in our sector by an average of 0.1% every year, whilst manufacturing has grown by 3.5% and the whole economy has grown by 0.9%. An increase in national construction productivity could add significant value, and as the report states, London, the South East and Scotland have the highest current productivity rates, so it seems there is still room for more gains across other regions.

Anything to increase productivity is what almost every contractor and the project teams are chasing – and of course, keeping all aspects of safe working practices alongside that is paramount.

Why is productivity different on every project and why does that matter?

From the ONS data as well as reading recent construction productivity reports – that we discuss in detail later – two things are clear:

  1. There are a significant number of factors (what differs by project type), enablers (what should and can be done) and barriers (what’s in the way) talked about. There’s a British Standard Institutions initiative upcoming, that aims to improve uniformity, due soon, but this only relates to infrastructure projects. More on that later in this piece.
  2. That the multi-factor causes and potential positive impacts from contractors in the supply chain – working together to improve productivity – must be customised to each project’s type and goals and should be considered from construction design, specification, procurement and delivery.

What factors improve or weaken productivity?

At Conquip, we see and hear the depth of productivity considerations daily. We recently compiled a list that contained over 30 factors that contractors talk to us regularly about, spanning: project sequencing, unforeseen weather, managing uptime, storage space limits, improving buildability, logistics and movements, and operative knowledge. These are just a few of the ones that can hit the hardest for all types of contractors, from pre-construction and temporary works to groundworks, from infrastructure to RC frame, and from plant hire to utilities.

To learn how we address many of these factors, read our productivity page.

What do some of the most respected industry reports say drives productivity?

Construction Productivity Taskforce (Trust and Productivity: The private sector construction playbook) 2022

The report states that there are 10 drivers and recommendations for improved chances of success:

  • Form effective partnerships.
  • Benchmark objectives.
  • Adopt portfolio and longer-term contracting.
  • Allocate risk fairly and appropriately.
  • Adopt an outcome-based approach.
  • Pay fairly.
  • Embed digital information flows and technologies.
  • Assess the economic and financial standing of suppliers.
  • Involve the supply chain early.
  • Promote innovation and continuous improvement.

These principles are valid, but fairly high level. Contractors grapple daily with the operational implementation of this list.

Looking at the other end, the material barriers to productivity in the UK, the high and medium hindrances of productivity are explained in the RICS Construction Productivity Report 2026 as:

  • High impact – availability of skilled workers.
  • Medium impacts – scheduling, sequencing and coordination; changes and variations; procurement route and contracting model; construction documentation; the supply chain.

A closer look at productivity on infrastructure and civil engineering-led projects

For infrastructure projects, there is a significant amount of planned investment in major UK infrastructure projects over the next 10 years. According to Oxford Economics, NISTA (National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority) data, as outlined in the CPA’s Half Built Britain 2025 report, in total infrastructure projects account for around £530 billion of investment in specific projects and programmes over the next 10 years, with around £285 billion of this funded by government. Energy projects make up around 40% of the total value, with Water and Transport at around 25%.

A 2021 survey by GIRI found that productivity is poor on civil engineering projects (including temporary works) because:

  1. Inadequate planning.
  2. Late design changes.
  3. Poor design information.
  4. Poor culture towards quality.
  5. Commercial pressures on costs and time.

How PAS 4010:2026 will better define infrastructure productivity

So, it’s good timing that the British Standard Institutions PAS 4010:2026 consultation submissions are now being reviewed and an update is expected in the Autumn.

The intention is to create a standard for whole lifecycle infrastructure projects’ productivity, and this is particularly important as the upcoming years ahead of our industry involve a far larger and more critical pipeline of major UK infrastructure projects.

The Mace ‘Build Smart, Build Better’ 2026 report, confirms in several places the main point that, the larger, lengthier and more extensive the project, the more it’s vital for the full contractor and supplier ecosystem to work together and seek a diverse range of productivity improvements, specific to that project, at every part of the lifecycle. And the earlier this contractor collaboration starts, the better– always, something we always promote at Conquip. Particularly with an increasing focus on public-private partnership (PPP) models.

The 4010 specification defines productivity as “improving effectiveness and efficiency at every stage of the project life”.

The PAS 4010 document’s technical author Mark Hansford, said recently:
“By effectiveness, it means consistently doing the right thing: selecting the right projects, making the right design choices, choosing the right delivery models, and the right delivery teams.
“By efficiency, it means doing things right, and minimising waste of materials, effort, energy, carbon, land use, and ecosystems.”

How to improve productivity over the long term

Productivity improvements are an extensive set of continual goals that we’re all chasing. When we talk to the Tier 1 contractors, the consensus is that the main drivers of improving productivity are:

  • Speed – with safety-first methods and practices.
  • Certainty of project schedule.
  • Total cost.
  • Cost certainty.

As always, everyone at Conquip will continue to focus on doing everything we can to improve the productivity of contractors, large and small.

One thing is for sure – as we heard someone say a few weeks ago, “productivity is not simply speed”. Everything we know and hear from our customers would support that they’re 100% right.

Get in touch with our team to discover how we can help improve productivity on your site