A rise in government-funded projects and work on utilities helped to stabilise the flow of new starts in the construction industry after sharp falls in the first half of this year, Glenigan, the analyst, has revealed.

It said that the year-on-year decline in public spending on construction projects was 9% in August, less severe than the 30% annual decline recorded to May. Despite the relatively weak performance of the private building sector so far this year, Glenigan said that it expected private sector work to moderate in the coming months and to improve further in 2010.

The Times