Construction work lifted by 2% in December compared to the previous month driven by new orders, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS pointed out that new work was the “sole” engine of December’s growth, accounting for a 3.5% uplift, while repair and maintenance activity slipped by 0.7% on the month.

A more representative quarterly view shows construction rose 1% in the final three months of 2021, compared with the third quarter of last year. New work lifted by 1.1%, while repair and maintenance increased by 0.8% in the final quarter.

The body did not mention supply chain bottlenecks as being a significant drag on the industry, as it has done in previous monthly reports.

Construction output in December was 0.3% above the February 2020 pre-pandemic level.

The ONS says annual construction output jumped by a record 12.7% in 2021 compared to the previous year, “mainly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic contributing to a very weak 2020, which saw the record largest decline in annual growth, a fall of 14.9%”.

Naismiths director Gareth Belsham adds: “With the supply chain speed bumps finally starting to flatten, the construction industry hit the accelerator at the end of 2021, posting its fastest pace of monthly growth since March.

“While the final score for the year – output grew by a record 12.7% – is a record for an industry that has seen more than its fair share of boom and bust, the most encouraging number in today’s ONS data is the surge in new orders.

“The momentum means that after a rollercoaster two years, new orders stand head and shoulders above their pre-pandemic levels. A total of £1.9bn more orders were placed during the last three months of 2021 than were at the same time in 2019 – an increase of 16.6%.

“Early signs from 2022 are that the supply chain problems which dogged the industry for much of last year are slowly starting to ease. There’s still a serious shortage of skilled workers and long delivery times are putting pressure on project managers, but the market is beginning to become more free-flowing.

“Construction has staged a Lazarus-like recovery from the body blow dealt it by the pandemic. With order books now looking very healthy, the challenge is to keep getting shovels in the ground and keep price pressures in check.”

Assetz group chief executive Stuart Law says: “While today’s figures show huge potential in the housing market, given complex structural issues including rising costs, shortages of raw materials and labour, and other pandemic related delays to imports, we’re likely to see monthly construction figures bounce around for some time yet, rather than a consistent period of growth.

“While the pandemic has dramatically slowed the global supply chain, we can’t shy away from the fact that we are still feeling the substantial impacts of Brexit and we haven’t yet made enough meaningful progress in establishing trade rules favourable to growth.

“The impacts on the housebuilding sector we’re seeing – rising costs, extra paperwork, and border delay on both goods and labour – were all highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee this week, as ‘the only detectable impact’ of Brexit.

“That’s obviously not a good place to be in two years on from our withdrawal from the EU. With the Government now talking about ending all Covid restrictions, we need to turn our attention to pulling all available policy levers to improve our ability to trade internationally to maximise growth opportunities as the world opens back up.”