Following on from a downturn in 2020 due to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was another turbulent year for the commercial construction industry. Although the construction industry was designated an essential service and exempted from lockdown restrictions, construction work was still affected by worksite labour limitations, social distancing requirements and supply chain disruptions.

The commercial building landscape was severely impacted by the pandemic with private sector led projects suffering due to the uncertain economic backdrop. On the other hand, commercial building in the public sector including health and education saw huge growth, buoyed by state and federal government support.

Both landlords and developers in the office sector of the once vibrant central business districts across Australia are still coming to terms with the implications of the pandemic, particularly the accelerated rollout of remote working. With the recently lifted recommendation to work from home, it is hoped this will lift the struggling sector.

The end of last year saw a strong rebound of the industry as a whole with healthy growth in engineering construction and commercial building activity, in particular. In fact, the close of 2021 saw these sectors of the industry make a strong contribution to the rebound of the broader economy.

Overall conditions have been mixed, with soaring prices from suppliers and importers a concern. A return to more normal business conditions in Melbourne has improved customer confidence, across the board, which is a promising indication of a strong year of growth for the industry.

With federal and state governments facing the polls this year, economic and social infrastructure are likely to be high on the agenda and we expect the announcement of further new major infrastructure projects in the coming months.

Looking at trend forecasts to 2025 released by ResearchAndMarkets.com, the construction industry’s forecasted growth in 2021 was revised in Q4 of the year as a result of the surge in coronavirus cases during Q3 and reimposed lockdowns and tighter restrictions.

Some forecasts for the industry predict average annual growth of 3.4% between 2022 and 2025, supported by construction works on the considerable pipelines of public infrastructure projects. The Australian government’s 10-year infrastructure pipeline includes a total investment of AUD110 billion and additionally several state governments, including Victoria, have put forward significant allocations towards the transport, health, education and housing sectors in their budgets. Between FY2021/2022 and FY2024/2025, Victoria’s state government plans to invest AUD90.2 billion on infrastructure.

As we have learned over the past few years in the Covid landscape, making any predictions in these uncertain times comes with inherent risks, but we remain optimistic for the year ahead and invite you to contact us about any commercial building projects you have in the pipeline.

As the premier commercial builders Melbourne, we supply industry leading construction solutions in commercial building, combustible cladding, civil construction and airport construction services. To learn more about why we are the industry leading commercial builders Melbourne wide, get in touch with us today.