C35/45 Concrete: RC35/45 High-Strength Structural Grade – cost per m³ – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

C35/45 concrete

per m³ · supply & lay

£166 – £275 / m³

What is it

The supply and placing of C35/45 ready-mixed concrete — the high-strength structural grade (designated RC35/45) used for heavily-loaded and durability-critical foundations, ground beams, transfer slabs, columns and precast / prestressed work above C30/37 — discharged into the works and placed, tamped and compacted, priced per m³ of concrete placed. This headline prices the concrete on the standard mass / trench-fill placing output: the place-level-vibrate operation is the same whatever the grade, and formwork and reinforcement are separately measured items. It is a full-pour, direct-discharge rate, with pumping, part loads and barrowed delivery as the variants below.

A note on the number, for estimators: this is a MAIN-CONTRACTOR budget rate, and the ready-mixed concrete is around 76% of it. The delivered mix is validated at £118–£145/m³ ex-VAT (ConcreteMath / RMS / Mister Concrete 2026, national supply-only). On a main-contractor budget rate the bought-in ready-mix is ordered on the contractor’s own account, so it carries the main-contractor O&P only — it is NOT marked up with the market +5% or the sub-contractor O&P +20% (those fall on the laying gang, which does carry the full ladder). The nearest published supply-and-lay benchmark is a low-grade groundworks figure of £90–£130/m³ (a much lower-grade reference); a designated C35/45 high-strength structural rate sits well above it — for the far richer mix, and because it still carries the main-contractor margin. That is the expected relationship, not an error: it is where a QS pricing sublet concrete at main-contract level needs the rate to sit. The rate range, low to high:

Low — larger loads and competitive ready-mix supply.
Standard — a typical project and merchant price; the default rate.
High — smaller loads or higher-cost areas.

Rate range

Low£166 – £214 / m³

Standard£188 – £243 / m³

High£213 – £275 / m³

Budget rate per m³.

3 key cost drivers

Concrete mix & bought-in share

C35/45 (RC35/45) ready-mixed concrete is around 76% of the rate, so the mix grade and the delivered merchant price set most of it. A richer grade or a long delivery lifts the material cost — and, because it still carries the main-contractor O&P, the rate per m³ with it.

Pour size & delivery

The headline is a full load discharged straight off the truck. Small or part loads add a surcharge and standing time; pumping adds a line pump and a pump-grade supplement; barrowing or dumpering adds a third operative — the calculator prices the standard direct-discharge case, with these as options.

Supply & quantity

Merchant prices for the bought-in materials move with supplier, account and load size, and the published band already spans that range. Rates are UK non-London; London & the South East typically run dearer — adjust the build-up.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

£188 – £243 / m³

Covers C35/45 (RC35/45) ready-mixed concrete, the placing gang & O&P, full pour direct-discharge · excl. formwork, reinforcement, trench excavation, prelims & VAT

Exclusions

Formwork, edge shuttering & expansion / movement joints
Reinforcement — mesh, bar, chairs & spacers (a separately measured item)
Trench or basement excavation, disposal & formation preparation
Power-float, brushed / tamped decorative finishes & surface treatments beyond a plain tamped mass-fill finish
Pumping, part-load & standing-time surcharges where the pour is not a full direct-discharge load
VAT