A new APM report reveals a 20% growth in the construction project management sector over five years, contributing £33bn annually to the UK’s GVA
The Golden Thread Report 2024 was published today (April 25th) at a launch event at the Science Museum, London.
It follows the first report in 2019, which assessed the UK project profession’s size and economic and societal contribution.
The project management profession contributes £186.8bn of GVA to the UK economy
When broken down by individual sectors, construction ranked second highest, with a GVA of £33.19bn—a 23% increase from £27.08bn in 2019.
Factors behind the growth include an increasing recognition of the need for effective programme management and transformation across all sectors, including construction.
The London 2012 Games were credited with demonstrating the importance of effective project management in ensuring the successful delivery of large-scale events.
The project management profession is the most vital ‘golden thread’ of the economy
Professor Adam Boddison OBE, chief executive of APM, said: “Our report deepens the view that our profession is the most vital ‘golden thread’ running through all sectors of the economy – driving quality, efficiency and strategic change.
“This includes the traditional project management sector of construction, which has seen a 23% rise in its GVA contribution to the UK and an additional 40,000 project professionals in just the last five years alone.”
Dave Corbin, head of client accounts at Gleeds, said: “Successful projects – delivering the intended benefit on time and within budget – require strong project management. Without it the myriad of developments that the country needs to future-proof itself would simply not materialise.
“In the past the role of the project manager has been underestimated but I believe we have seen a shift in perspective and the value of having an effective, collaborative and highly skilled project leader is now widely recognised. I only hope that the positive trends revealed in this report continue and that as a profession we’re able to attract and retain enough skilled people to be able to meet increasing demand.”
