UK construction benchmarks 2026

Drawing on a decade of SmartWaste project data, this report sets out 41 benchmarks for waste, energy and water performance across UK construction, and shows where progress has stalled even as landfill diversion nears its practical ceiling.

This report analyses ten years of project data from the SmartWaste platform. It draws on 4,791 projects with a combined value of £34bn, recorded between 2016 and 2025, and turns that data into 41 benchmarks across waste, energy and water. For the first time, construction teams have a single, independent reference for how their own projects compare.

The report looks past the headline diversion rates that the industry has reported against for years. It tracks waste intensity, both by floor area and by project value. It also benchmarks energy and water use on site and where waste ends up once it leaves a project. Infrastructure is benchmarked separately, across diversion, routes and intensity.

Together these benchmarks show an industry that has almost eliminated waste to landfill, yet still generates more waste per square metre of floor area than it did a decade ago. That tension is the report's central finding. With diversion close to its ceiling, the next stage of progress lies upstream, in designing waste out before it reaches site.

Key findings

Among the findings:

Construction waste per £100,000 of project value fell by 28% over the decade.
Waste per 100m² of floor area rose by more than 10% over the same period.
New build generated 36% more waste per 100m² than the average across all project types.
Landfill diversion reached 99.5% in 2025, close to its practical ceiling.
The report sets 41 benchmarks across waste, energy and water, with infrastructure covered separately across diversion, routes and intensity.

“Construction has all but solved waste to landfill. The bigger challenge now is the waste the industry creates in the first place, and that work begins at the design stage.”

– Antonio Hernandez, Head of Product Management, Building Performance Services, BRE

“For years the industry has measured itself on landfill diversion, and the progress is real. Our data shows diversion reaching 99.5% in 2025, close to the practical limit of what can be achieved on site.

Beneath that headline, the benchmarks tell a harder story. Waste per square metre of floor area has risen by more than 10% over the decade, even as waste measured against project value has fallen. The industry has become more efficient against cost, while still producing more material waste for every building it puts up.

That is why these benchmarks matter. They give construction teams an independent reference for waste, energy and water, and they show where the next stage of improvement must come from: designing waste out before it reaches site, rather than managing it once it has arrived.”

Antonio Hernandez, Head of Product Management, Building Performance Services, BRE