Brexit: UK construction costs ‘have risen much more steeply than EU’

A construction worker forming concrete reinforcing bars. The research found that between 2015 and 2022 the cost of materials had risen 60% in the UK. Photograph: Peter D Noyce/Alamy

The cost of materials and labour for construction have increased more steeply in the UK than the EU since the Brexit referendum, new research has found.

Analysis of data from EU member states, the central EU database, Eurostat, and the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show that between 2015 and 2022 the cost of construction materials including cement, timber and steel increased by 60%.