Market Update 2017Q4: London Quantity Surveying

The London construction market continues to lead the way over the rest of the UK when it comes to contracts awarded. Barbour ABI's latest economic & construction market review reported that 20% of all contracts awarded (by value) were situated in the London area. Second was the North West with 14%.

Source: Barbour ABI

Spearheaded by a buoyant residential sector, London continues to see a consistent flow of planning applications as well as project awards. Residential projects made up 36% of all projects awarded in the Month of August 2017, which was the highest proportion of any sector in the industry.  Of all residential projects, private housing accounted for 78% of the total value of projects awarded during the month.

Recruitment

Helping to reinforce the above information, London continues to be Maxim Recruitment's busiest market at present. After a slight downturn in recruitment activity over the holiday period, September and October have seen a huge increase in vacancies coming in. However Maxim currently has more vacancies in the London region than any other area of the UK (198).

Source: Maxim Recruitment website - stats correct at the time of posting

Most in Demand Profiles

The most common need from construction clients were are working with in London appears to be for Quantity Surveyors at the Assistant through to Senior Quantity Surveyor levels. The shortage of good Quantity Surveyors is a national problem, however is being particularly felt in the London market at present.

We have a particular need for Chartered Quantity Surveyors at these levels. The need for Chartered Surveyors is across the board with our client base, from main contractors, general PQS's as well as our Consultancy clients in the claims & disputes and Expert Witness sectors.

Typical Salaries for such roles are as follows:

Quantity Surveying

Claims & Disputes

Sectors of Construction

It's important to point out that Maxim Recruitment have vacancies across all sectors of construction, ranging from roles with groundwork's subcontractors all the way up to roles with Tier 1 main contractors working on projects in excess of £200m in London.

However, as a trend we've been experiencing a real rise in vacancies with small to medium sized main contractors (typical turnover between £50m - £250m) working in the built environment. Typical projects would be new build and refurbishment projects in the residential, commercial and education sectors.

Some of these employers are established, exciting businesses experiencing rapid growth and doing projects up to between £2m - £40m in inner London. These vacancies offer great exposure to managing your own projects and have been popular with candidates coming from larger contractors who are not getting the experience of managing their own projects.

Summary 

If you are a Quantity Surveyor living in London & South East, or you are considering relocating to London; Maxim Recruitment would love to speak to you about your options for employment.

There's no doubt that the construction market in London is buoyant at present and offers some exciting opportunities for Quantity Surveyors wanting to earn good salaries on exciting projects. Couple that with London being one of the liveliest cities in the World, and it makes popular hotspot for construction professionals wanting a good work / social life balance.

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Stuart Hackett
Senior Recruitment Consultant