The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, has published the Build 2024 report examining Construction Sector Performance and Capacity.

The Build 2024 - Construction Sector Performance and Capacity report offers an insight and uncovered several key findings across various aspects of the construction and built environment sector, including costs, planning, skills, productivity and sustainability.

The report highlights a variety of positive trends in the construction sector in 2022 and 2023, including:

•There were over 41,000 planning permissions for housing units in 2023; an increase of 21% over 2022.

•17,601 homes were upgraded to a BER rating of B2 or above in 2023; an increase of 108% relative to 2022.

•Construction and construction-related apprentice registrations increased by 3% and 2% respectively in 2023, relative to 2022.

The report also highlights various initiatives currently being implemented by both the public and private sectors to improve the efficiency and productivity of the construction industry. These efforts aim to address the significant challenges posed by recent years, including COVID-19 restrictions, inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions.

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Furthermore, inflationary pressure is easing across many construction materials and the number of apprentices in the construction sector exceeded 20,000 in 2023, which is ensuring that the pipeline of skilled workers in the sector continues to grow.

Project Ireland 2040 requires a competitive, dynamic and sustainable construction sector to deliver new social, economic and climate-resilient infrastructure. To achieve this, the construction sector must adopt innovative and sustainable practices that can meet the demands of a growing population.

Publishing the report, Minister Donohoe said: "Build 2024 shows that collaboration between the public and private sectors continues to increase the efficiency and productivity of the construction sector. It is vital to maintain the existing momentum and focus on measures that can assist in removed bottlenecks to delivering on the priorities outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP).

"This report provides an evidence base that will enable approaches such as Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) to increase the output of the construction industry. Evidence suggests that an MMC approach to building has the potential to increase the speed of delivery of new homes, reduce costs, and advance improvements in quality and energy efficiency.

"Government is investing €165 billion up to 2030 under the NDP, and this report provides a very useful insight into the trends and initiatives underway to increase productivity through innovation and digital adoption to meet our NDP delivery ambitions."

P J Rudden, Chair of the CSG Sub-Group, stated: "I welcome the Build 2024 Report, which builds on our increasing innovation and digital adoption ambition to accelerate delivery in design and construction of projects. We have included Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the scope of consulting services for major project values of €100 million and more since 1 January 2024. Over the next four years, BIM requirements will cascade down to projects below €1 million. BIM delivers projects to a higher quality and safety level, reduces waste and can deliver projects in a more timely manner."