Economic Significance of Maintenance Report 2022

Maintenance expenditure reduced in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 lockdown, as measured by value of output, proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and as a percentage of the replacement value of the stock of buildings and works to be maintained. Total maintenance expenditure in 2020, at constant prices, reduced around 7.75% compared with 2019. 

These are the results of a special report commissioned by BCIS, which examined all available statistics to arrive at an estimate of the total expenditure on maintenance in the UK. 

The objective of this report is to estimate the annual national expenditure on maintenance work on a consistent basis and to compare the results with the value of the stock of buildings and works to be maintained and the general level of national expenditure (GDP). 

The report is an update of BMI special report Economic significance of maintenance 2021 and follows as closely as possible the methodology used in the Department of the Environment’s (DOE) report Building Maintenance – The Report of the Committee, published in 1972. 

‘Despite the reduction in total expenditure on the maintenance and repair of buildings, due to Covid-19 restrictions, maintenance spending still represented around 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), a significant contribution to the wealth of the nation.’