Growth in the UK's infrastructure sector has "ground to a halt", according to the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA).

In the first quarterly Workload Trends Survey since the EU referendum, six out of 10 sub-sectors have reported fallings workloads.

According to the statistics, only 2% of firms reported workloads increasing, compared to a 20% balance reported in the first quarter.

In addition, respondents continue to state recruiting skilled workers as a major problem, with 43% and 34% of participants reporting a "dissatisfactory supply of staff and skilled operatives" respectively.


The CECA said while contractors continue to report employment as increasing, this is likely to start slowing if the market continues to fizzle out.

Alasdair Reisner, Chief Executive of the CECA, said the results spell "real trouble" for the UK economy and should act as a "major warning sign" to policymakers.

"We know that infrastructure investment is a driver of economic growth. Given the recent disappointing economic forecasts following the Brexit vote, our figures show that the market is slowing just as the country needs it to speed up," he said.

"The new Government can't afford to sit on its hands. There are existing committed programmes of work where we need to see the delivery of schemes - now - if this situation is to be reversed.

"Unless the Government kicks on to get spades in the ground, we will be looking at a dramatic slowdown in growth, which is bad news for the 200,000 people who work in our sector, and bad news for the economy as a whole."

(LM/MH)