THE uncertain economic outlook has been tipped to favour the UK construction equipment rental market.
AMA Research said that, in 2021, there was a ‘healthy growth’ across the market which has continued throughout 2022. Statistics show a 6.8% increase in market value from 2020.
Plant hire companies dominate the market with an estimated share of 37.7%, driven primarily by earthmoving equipment, road construction kit and crushing and screening plant.
AMA added that the hybrid category is getting larger and almost on par with the plant hire category, accounting for 37.1%. Specialists are described as a ‘key category’ in the market, particularly for welfare equipment, ancillary equipment and cranes. This represents 22.2%. The remaining 3.1% is made up of tool hire companies.
Uncertain economic times are likely to influence hire rather than buy decisions, AMA Research said, so it is anticipated construction equipment rental will be in high demand. Due to this, it is forecast that the market will grow by 5.7% in 2022.
Director of AMA Research, Laura Pardoe, said, “It’s in uncertain times that the hire sector comes into its own. We can see how true this was during 2020 when the hire sector serviced emergency requirements for temporary facilities and new approaches to enable social distancing though offering welfare, accommodation, marquee, and traffic management solutions, among much more.
“We will see it too in the months to come when economic uncertainty is likely to favour ‘hire’ over ‘buy’ decisions as contractors need to fulfil requirements in ever-changing conditions with ever-increasing costs.”
