Comment to be attributed to Michael Dall, lead economist at construction intelligence specialist, Barbour ABI

In response to the Output in the construction industry: July 2014 and new orders April to June 2014

“It’s encouraging that new orders are continuing on a positive trajectory, but with the rate of growth slowing from recent quarters, today’s announcement still isn’t the silver bullet we need to dispel all concerns about the performance of the construction sector.

“What is particularly interesting in today’s figures is the growing strength of new orders in the private commercial sector and especially for office contracts where we’ve seen an increase by 29% in Q2 versus Q1 this year.
“Early indications from our monthly Economic and Construction Market Review however, point to a summer slowdown on the commercial side. We would need to see consistent growth in this area before we can confidently say it is having a real impact on the industry.”