ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

Last week’s news that construction output had bounced back in January has been underlined by the latest data from information specialist Glenigan which said clients handed over £2bn more work in February.

On Friday, Office for National Statistics figures said output in the sector was up 0.9% compared to a 2.9% drop in December.

And Glenigan said the momentum has rolled over into February with nearly £6.4bn worth of work awarded last month, an increase of almost £2.2bn from January.

The figures (see below) reveal the most work was awarded in the private housing sector, with firms here inking deals worth just over £1.22bn – or around 19% of all work handed out in the month.

After private housing the next most prolific sector was social housing, with clients here awarding firms £1.17bn of business.

This was followed by those in the industrial sector, at £718m and commercial clients awarding £670m worth of work.

Among the deals signed in the month were a brace for Multiplex – a £400³¾ scheme by Chipperfield Architects to turn the former US embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square into an upmarket hotel for Qatari Diar and a job to build Make’s 35-storey at 1 Leadenhall for Brookfield. The CM deal for its developer parent is believed to be around £250m.

And ISG inked a £50³¾-plus job to fit out the new King’s Cross headquarters of US tech giant Facebook.

Meanwhile, the data has also revealed that £10.6bn worth of projects were approved in February.

The private housing sector was the market with the highest value of projects approved, securing permission for 365 schemes worth almost £3.2bn.

After private residential, commercial achieved the second-highest value of approvals at £2.6bn – though £1bn of this was for a 10-storey building in King’s Cross that will be the home of pharma company Merck and where CPC is project manager.

* private housing awards data refers to external contracts only and does not include frameworks

** projects awarded by a joint venture are listed independently to both single party clients