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While the industry is buoyed by lockdown restrictions-easing and 56% of projects that were suspended now back on-site, there is a deep concern about what happens next, and where future opportunities will come from.

As the UK faces another recession, leading business analysts are encouraging diversification strategies in order to spread risk and maintain businesses throughout the crisis.

The commercial property sector is perhaps the most likely to be hit first - with offices in a state of flux regarding whether employees will return and continue to work at pre-COVID-19 volumes.

And although the development pipeline appears firm now with 1,080 projects approved throughout the UK in the last three months, 6% more than a year ago, it remains to be seen whether investors will progress these to site. Caution and preparing to spread risk now would be prudent.

A recent report; 鈥淐OVID-19: UK industry focus. Where next for real estate?鈥� from Strategy& - part of the PwC network - states that 鈥�42% of workers can work from home鈥�, and 鈥淚n the worst-case scenario, real estate companies would be left with expensive, significantly devalued assets on their balance sheets for which there is no demand.鈥�

So, it stands to reason that if firms are solely focused on office construction, then they should be looking elsewhere too, to spread their risk and avoid the worst-case scenario should it arise.

Although fears abound that city-centre offices could lose their appeal, there is potential opportunity for regional business hubs to facilitate meetings and collaborative working for remote workers, suggests Hannah Vickers, Chief Executive of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) in a recent Infrastructure Intelligence webinar, should reverse-urbanisation occur. Therefore it may not just be diversification of services or sectors-served that is required, but also a shift in location focus too.

Diversification in manufacturing

Some manufacturing businesses are also at risk should they decide to remain focused on their 鈥榦ld-normal鈥� way of doing business.

Strategy& states in their report 鈥淐OVID-19: UK industry focus. Where next for industrial manufacturing?鈥�, that; 鈥淥ur figures suggest the industrial manufacturing sector will be hit harder than the economy as a whole, with a possible productivity fall of more than 30%鈥�, and 鈥淲hether making parts or assembling products, manufacturers with a broader, more diverse set of customers will fare better than those who specialise in serving specific industries.鈥�

History teaches us that short-term measures taken in response to global crises lead to changes that last for decades. And manufacturers who can identify new opportunities to meet newly created needs will have ample opportunities for growth.

E.g. , the advanced robotics company, has developed 鈥楤ump鈥� 鈥� a new, cutting-edge technology system designed to help keep people safe in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And has been commissioned to produce more than five kilometres of material that will be used to produce crucial parts for use in life-saving equipment destined for the Nightingale Hospital in London.

Another example is Coventry-based flooring manufacturer, who have modified its manufacturing facilities to help produce up to 20,000 parts for protective face shields per day.

How can businesses diversify?

But how can businesses who are entrenched in one way of working and supplying one sector, quickly turn this around to be involved in others that they may not have first-hand experience of?

PwC鈥檚 Strategy& again has some useful advice to 鈥渦se demand signals such as customer leads and market insight to inform recovery, preparing for different scenarios depending on the length and nature of lockdown.鈥�

果冻影院 customers can of course leverage our market insight to monitor planning activity to gauge where potential opportunities for their skill-set or experience may be leveraged in new sectors. Other businesses can start their research via our free tool to search for potential opportunities in all construction sectors throughout the UK .

The more businesses can diversify the types of projects they work on, or supply, the better position they鈥檒l be in to spread risk, and weather the storm.