Client survey – refurbishment tops pipeline priorities

Only 21% said they are pausing or scaling back planned activity.

Looking at clients’ top priorities, the most popular option picked by respondents was ‘reconfiguring or refurbishing to meet changing needs’ (63%) – a reflection of both the structural changes in the economy, with the rise of home-working and online shopping, and a general need to ‘mend and make do’ as purse strings tighten.

“We are rescaling (reducing) the estate to make it more efficient,” said Toby Ward, director of estates development at Sheffield Hallam University.

One healthcare client said the trust was “striving to address back-log maintenance while fulfilling statutory obligations” – a sentiment expressed by many clients.

But even with the recent financial uncertainty, more than half of clients (51%) said they were ‘expanding or developing new facilities to support growth’.

‘Decarbonising the built estate’ was chosen as a priority for 41%, and ‘implementing digital asset management and data-driven decision-making’ was selected by a third of respondents.

Perhaps surprisingly, only 29% said ‘enhancing building safety’ was a priority, though the score was slightly higher among clients who work in private and social housing (36%).

Drilling down further into sustainability, the survey asked clients what sustainability measures they were prioritising.

Some 48% said were ‘planning or delivering retrofit projects’ while 46% ‘aim for net zero carbon in construction’.

Another 43% said they ‘have policies on circular economy (e.g. recycling)’, while 38% ‘focus on reducing embodied carbon in materials and supply chain’.

Reflecting how clients are particularly focused on whole life costs, 48% said they ‘aim for net zero carbon in operation’.

The ability of construction’s supply chain to deliver on sustainability priorities was questioned.

Iain Pay, lead surveyor – decarbonisation at affordable housing group Bromford, noted: “There is now a significant legislative challenge for the social housing sector, regarding the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and Decent Homes Standard. Some estimates put the cost of retrofitting Britain’s domestic housing stock over the next 10 years at £500bn.

“But where are the skilled technical personnel going to be sourced to meet these aspirations? PAS 2035 has been introduced to ensure that our sector is adequately prepared to meet these Government’s targets. However, there is a significant dearth of PAS 2030 'tier one' contractors and their supply chains, who can deliver PAS2035 programmes.”

When asked about sustainability rating systems used, ‘BREEAM Excellent or Outstanding’ was comfortably the most popular option (62%).

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was cited by a quarter of respondents, followed by WELL Building Standard (13%), Passivhaus or EnerPHit (10%) and CEEQUAL, typically associated with infrastructure (5%)

Among those picking the ‘other’ option, responses included: NHS Net Zero Building Standard, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Scotland and NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) which has recently come to the UK.

A few answered “none” or “only if required by planning permission”.

Clients were asked which contract forms they have the most confidence in and responses indicate a preference for familiar and established options.

‘Design and build’ was the most popular procurement route (63%), closely followed by ‘traditional (design–bid–build)’, selected by 54% of respondents.

‘Framework agreements’ are used by 41% of clients, and 24% use ‘alliancing / partnering contracts’.

“We remain committed to partnering and collaboration despite cost (as opposed to value) being more to the fore,” said Sheffield Hallam’s Toby Ward.

Variations on these procurement routes are used by some respondents who selected the ‘other’ option, including “two-stage design and build” and “integrated project delivery”.

‘Construction management’ is used by 24%.

Traditional contract forms also dominated the choices of client respondents.

JCT (Joint Contracts Tribunal) was picked by 65% and NEC by 42%.

FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers) was chosen by 15% and PPC2000 / FAC-1 (Framework Alliance Contracts) by 8%. Clients who picked ‘other’ generally used a bespoke option.

Construction Management and CIOB surveyed 115 built environment professionals working for clients during November and December 2025.

The breakdown of the respondents was as follows: