Construction output in the UK fell by 2.9 per cent in December 2020 compared to the previous month, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.

The sector suffered a 3.8 per cent decline in new work and a 1.5 per cent slip in maintenance, registering the first fall in monthly growth since April 2020 when it fell by a record 40.7 per cent just after the country entered its first lockdown.

All work fell by 12.5 per cent last year compared with 2019, the largest fall in annual growth since 2009 where output fell 13.2 per cent in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Despite the monthly decline in December 2020, all repair and maintenance sectors were above the February 2020 pre-coronavirus level, while only infrastructure was above this level for new work. All other types of work in December were below their pre-coronavirus levels, with public new housing the furthest below its February 2020 level at 22.3 per cent.

Construction had grown for seven months in a row from April 2020 until December.

Naismiths director Gareth Belsham says: “Economic gravity has finally caught up with the UK’s construction sector, which at times last year appeared to be in a boom while other industries were in a bust.”

He adds: “The net effect of this data is to give the industry a reality check. While construction’s recovery is happening much quicker than the painfully slow return to growth seen after the global financial crisis, progress is still fragile and the breathless rate of growth seen last summer is unlikely to return.”