July’s growth in output accompanied June’s record monthly growth of 23.5%. Despite that, the decline in productivity at the beginning of the pandemic meant that compared to the construction output in February, July was still 11.6% behind that. Since the record monthly decrease of 40.2% in April, July has been the UK’s third consecutive month of growth at 17.6% which is the second largest monthly development since records began in 2010.
Leading up to July, construction output fell by 10.6% due to a decrease in new work of 9.7% and a drop in repair and maintenance of 12.4%. The reduction in new work was mainly due to private new housing, which fell by 17.0% alongside falls in every new work sector, aside from infrastructure which grew 6.0%.