Northern Ireland construction firms 'do half of work outside NI'

The survey says that firms are working elsewhere in Great Britain due to the lack of a significant recovery in construction activity within Northern Ireland

Nearly half of all work being done by Northern Ireland building firms is now outside of NI, a new report suggests.

The latest construction market survey by RICS and Tughans says NI firms are seeking work in Great Britain in particular.

It says this is due to the lack of a significant recovery in construction activity within Northern Ireland.

Private housing was the one area of construction in Northern Ireland that saw a significant increase in activity.

Overall, the workloads of Northern Ireland construction surveyors increased in the final quarter of last year, according to the survey, but at a significantly slower rate than in all other UK regions.

Infrastructure activity fell significantly in the final three months of the year, the survey found, making it the ninth consecutive quarter in which surveyors reported falling or flat infrastructure workloads.

"All four quarters of 2015 saw growth in overall Northern Ireland construction workloads, but this was from a low base, and in each quarter the rate of growth was significantly lagging other UK regions," RICS Northern Ireland spokesman, Jim Sammon, said.

"One key trend has been the rising amount of work being done by local firms outside of Northern Ireland, particularly in Scotland and England, where there has been much more robust construction growth.

"In some respects this is a positive story, demonstrating the competitiveness and excellence of our construction businesses.

"However, we want to see workloads within Northern Ireland increasing as well, particularly in infrastructure."