UK construction cost index, 2026: live figures and what's moved
The latest ONS and MHCLG construction cost indices, auto-refreshed on publication. Plus what changed this quarter and why.
Sources: ONS Construction Output Price Indices, ONS Labour Cost Indices, MHCLG Monthly Building Materials. Latest print: N/A.
Here are the numbers a QS needs at a glance, refreshed automatically on each ONS and MHCLG publication. If something looks different from last time you bookmarked this page, that's the data, not the site.
The headline chart
Source: ONS Construction Output Price Index, all new work, UK. Base: 2015 = 100. Quarterly data from 2014 to the latest print.
Top material movers
The fastest-moving individual materials over the last twelve months, from the MHCLG Monthly Building Materials series. Use these to check which lines in your cost plan are likely to be out of date.
Biggest risers
Biggest fallers
Source: MHCLG Monthly Building Materials, latest release. Year-on-year percentage change in the material-specific index.
What this quarter tells us
Output prices up N/A year-on-year means the aggregate cost of building new work, as captured by the ONS all-new-work index, has risen at that rate over the last twelve months. It is the headline figure a client will see quoted in trade press and the one most estimators reach for first. Read it as a broad inflation print, not as a specific uplift you apply to a specific cost line.
The split underneath is the more useful read. Labour is at N/A YoY and materials at N/A YoY. On a residential project at roughly 50% labour by value, the blended exposure sits between the two. The further a project sits from that split, the further the true uplift sits from the headline COPI number. A labour-heavy loft conversion is running closer to the labour YoY figure; a steel-and-concrete groundworks package is running closer to materials.
The top movers in the materials table point to where the residual pressure sits. Materials that rose hardest over the last year tend to be the ones tied to energy-intensive production (cement, bricks, insulation) or to specific supply constraints. Materials that fell are usually ones that overshot during the 2022 shock and are still retracing. Neither extreme is a forecast signal on its own, but the pattern is worth checking against your supplier conversations.
When the next update lands
ONS Construction Output Price Index
The COPI series publishes quarterly, with a lag of roughly six weeks after the reference quarter ends. A Q1 print lands in mid-May; Q2 in mid-August; Q3 in mid-November; Q4 in mid-February of the following year. Dates shift by a few days each year; the ONS release calendar is the definitive source.
MHCLG Monthly Building Materials
The materials series publishes monthly, with a lag of roughly three weeks after the reference month. A January print lands in late February; a February print in late March; and so on. This is the fastest-moving public construction cost indicator and the one to watch for early signs of a materials shock.
This page re-renders on publication, so bookmark it. The stats and chart above will pick up the new values automatically, typically within an hour of the ONS or MHCLG release going live.
What this page intentionally doesn't cover
This is an index reference page. For interpretation and commentary on what the current inflation environment means for design-build firms, see the UK construction cost inflation 2026 article . For the longer-term outlook and scenarios, see the UK construction cost forecast 2026 article . For per-m² benchmarks and trade day rates, see the related articles below. For the adjustable anchor converter and the full history, the live tool is the Cost Tracker.