Total construction output is estimated to have grown by 0.3% in Q2 this year compared to the previous quarter, the latest ONS construction data reveals.
The figures show both new work and repair and maintenance grew by 0.4% and 0.2% in the second quarter, respectively.
At the sector level, five out of the nine sectors grew during the quarter. The main positive contribution to the increase was infrastructure new work, which grew by 1.9%.
Monthly construction output is estimated to have fallen by 0.1% in June this year, following a decrease of 0.8% in May, and a decrease of 0.1% in April.
Although there were falls into each month of Q2, overall the level of output between April and June was higher than between January and March. The fall into April was because of a particularly strong March.
The decrease in monthly output in June came solely from a decrease in new work, which fell by 0.3%, while repair and maintenance showed no growth (0.0%).
Total construction new orders fell by 11.8% (£1,232 million) during the period compared with Q1.
This quarterly decrease came mainly from private commercial new work and public other new work.
The annual rate of construction output price growth was 1.9% in the 12 months to June.
Pegasus Group head of economics Richard Cook says: “Construction has been sorely in need of some good news, and the decrease in today’s construction output data further compounds the pessimistic outlook.”
“The sector has struggled to maintain momentum with a series of fits and starts in recent months: any gains are often followed by decreases, and the construction sector seems to be treading water at a time when development needs to be a key driver in pushing forward a stagnant economy.”
“The economy is still feeling the effects of the Middle East, placing an additional burden on a construction sector already grappling with high costs and skills shortages. Yet for all the measures we’ve seen from a succession of governments, it’s not clear these issues have abated.”
“Andy Burnham has staked his claim to remedy construction’s skills shortages, valuing the ‘the hard hat as much as the graduation cap’ by enabling earlier access to technical education and skills placements.”
“But construction is still often misperceived as low skill and low pay when it is quite the opposite. And despite targets to introduce 60,000 more construction workers by 2029, the National Audit Office reported that only 74 young people started foundation level construction apprenticeships in 2025-26, against a DWP estimated need of 1,000.”
Also commenting, Hampshire Trust Bank managing director of development finance Neil Leitch adds: “A new Government might be seen as a chance for a reset, for some fresh ideas to give housebuilding the shot in the arm these figures show that it so clearly needs. But we’ve seen plenty of these moments before.”
“There has been no shortage of initiatives, announcements and reforms, yet the conditions developers are working in have changed far more slowly than the policy surrounding them.”
