Growth in new construction

Steady improvements in key building sectors of the construction industry are reported in the largest figures from the Department of Trade & Industry. The figures are for work to the second quarter of 2005. New work in the private-commercial sector was 3% higher than the year before and 5% higher than the previous quarter. In the private-industrial sector, new work was 4% higher than the previous year and 6% higher than the previous three months. There were even higher growth rates in the private-housing sector. Year-on-year new work was up by 9%, with a rise of 7% on the previous quarter.