Northern Ireland Construction Bulletin

Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) recently published the latest edition of the Northern Ireland Construction Bulletin.

The primary measure of the value of construction output in Northern Ireland (the Index of Construction) is obtained from the Northern Ireland Quarterly Construction Enquiry (QCE). This is a statutory survey of construction firms operating in Northern Ireland. Each quarter a sample of construction firms is asked to provide details of the value of construction activity they have undertaken within NI in a specified period.

This Bulletin provides a measure of the value of construction output in Northern Ireland for the period 1 January to 31 March 2010.

Key Findings:

The total volume of construction output for the period 1 January to 31 March 2010 fell by 3.2% compared with the fourth quarter of 2009. The total volume of construction output in the first quarter of 2010 was 7.8% lower compared to the same quarter in 2009. In the first quarter of 2010 New Work decreased by 4.4% compared to the previous quarter in 2009. Over the same period the total volume of Repair and Maintenance work rose by 1.0%.

Notes to editors:

Readers are advised:

Results, particularly for the latest quarter are provisional and subject to revision, as fuller information becomes available from subsequent returns in future quarters. The figures reported above are based on returns from construction firms for the period 1 January to 31 March 2010. From quarter one 2010, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has introduced new deflators to be applied to UK construction output data. These have been applied to all tables that have been deflated to 2005 prices contained in this bulletin. This has resulted in some slight revisions to previously published figures.

The publication is available to download on the NISRA website.

The planned publication dates of the next four quarterly Bulletins are now as follows:

Construction Bulletin Date of release
2010 – Quarter 2 20 October 2010
2010 – Quarter 3 19 January 2011
2010 – Quarter 4 20 April 2011
2011 – Quarter 1 20 July 2011

Further information about the content of the bulletin and copies of the Bulletin are available from:

Central Survey Unit
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
McAuley House
2-14 Castle Street
Belfast
BT1 1SY

Contact name: Mr Jonathan Harvey
Telephone: (028) 9034 8202
Fax: (028) 9034 8276
E-mail: Jonathan.Harvey@dfpni.gov.uk
Web: http://www.csu.nisra.gov.uk