Revised figures from Government number crunchers showed the total volume of output fell by 4.8% in the first quarter, rather than the preliminary estimate of 3% released at the end of April.
The effect of its downward revision for construction output will strip an extra 0.1% from the latest UK GDP figures, meaning that its quarter-on-quarter decline would be 0.3%.
Latest data shows the volume of new work fell by 6.9%, while repair and maintenance dropped by 0.4% on the previous quarter.
Private housing showed some positive growth up 1.3, but this was overshadowed by a 11% fall in public housing output during the first quarter of 2012.
Public non-housing, which covers education and health, fell 7% in Q1 and infrastructure work registered the largest fall at 15.9%.
Mike Leonard, director of the Modern Masonry Alliance, said: “The effect of the cut in capital grants for social housing is now being seen.
“Regrettably these are going in only one direction and that is down. The economic and social consequences of the failure to provide social housing is a major threat to the economy, jobs and social cohesion.”
Simon Rawlinson, Head of Strategic Research & Insight at EC Harris: said: “These figures show that the industry cannot rely on infrastructure work alone, we need the other sectors to improve if we are to get back into growth.”
Noble Francis, Economics Director at the Construction Products Association said: “The construction industry is now firmly back in recession and, the overall picture shows an industry clearly suffering from the effects of public sector cuts.
“Equally worrying, although government expected that the private sector would fill the void, the Q1 figures show that this was not the case.
“Unless confidence and lending improves significantly, private sector construction will remain subdued and the effects of further public sector cuts are likely to ensure that construction has a negative impact on the wider economy over the next 12 months.”
