Construction output fell for the second month in a row in July, slipping by 0.8%, due to a decline in repair and maintenance work.

The fall comes after a month-on-month 1.4% decrease in June and follows seven consecutive months of growth in the industry, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It says that the July decline is solely due to a fall in repair and maintenance work, which slipped by 2.6%, while new work saw a slight increase of 0.3% in the month.

At the sector level, the main contributors to the July decrease were public housing new work, which slumped by 13.1%, public and private housing repair, down by 8%, and maintenance work, which fell by 2.6%.

The government data body says across a broader view, construction output lifted by 1.4% in the three months to July.

This came solely from an increase in new work, up by 2.7%, as repair and maintenance saw a slight decrease of 0.7%. It is the ninth consecutive period of growth in the three-month-on-three-month series, but the slowest rate of growth since the three months to December 2021, which lifted by 1%.

The figures come as the ONS also reports that the UK economy grew by a smaller-than-expected 0.2% in July, after the country’s dominant services sector lifted by 0.4%. Economists had expected overall gross domestic product growth of 0.4% in July.

McBains managing director Clive Docwra says: “July’s decrease in output in part reflects falling demand because of increasing cost of living pressures, and uncertainty over the UK economic policy given the contest over who would become the next Prime Minister.

“It has meant many clients – from households considering low-scale home improvements to investors and developers contemplating major new projects – held off committing investment.

“Supply bottlenecks are also continuing to impact, especially with materials coming from China being affected by the partial or full lockdowns in dozens of Chinese cities.

“The effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is also starting to bite harder. Many construction firms were protected from the increases in energy and material prices because they used forward contracts for energy and to pre-purchase materials and products where possible, but that has merely delayed pressures that are now being felt more intensely.

“To ease the energy crisis, the construction sector would have liked to see the Truss administration support a major home insulation programme, which would not only help fix Britain’s leaky and energy-inefficient homes and help cut bills, but also provide work for smaller construction firms who are in particular feeling the pinch at present.”