Northern Ireland’s construction industry remained firmly in the doldrums in the past three months (April, May and June), according to an authoritative report.

The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Construction Market Survey reveals that Northern Ireland continued to significantly lag other UK regions in the second quarter of the year, with a balance of -42% of chartered surveyors reporting declining workloads.

Scotland was the next most severely impacted, with a balance of -22%. London/South East and South West/Wales were the only two regions of the UK not to report declining workloads.

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All construction sub-sectors in Northern Ireland experienced a fall in activity during the three month period, the survey shows.

Expectations for the construction sector in Northern Ireland also remain negative, with further falls in workloads, employment and profits expected. The balance for profit expectations was -86%.

RICS Northern Ireland construction spokesman, Jim Sammon, said: "With finance constrained, private sector activity remains scarce, and many firms are increasingly turning to markets outside of Northern Ireland for work. There have been some important announcements of public sector projects, but it remains to be seen what impact this will have on workloads in the coming quarters. For now, across the board, Northern Ireland's construction sector continues to experience a severe recession and the expectations of chartered surveyors are for this to continue over the next 12 months."

(CD/GK)