The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that the UK economy officially slipped into recession in the fourth quarter of 2008 (which was the second 'consecutive quarter of negative growth), so it is hardly surprising that full-year construction output and orders figures for 2008 also showed a decline.rnAlthough the contraction in output was only 0.4%, the 16% drop in orders for new work during the year suggests that it may be a while before things improve, certainly for the construction industry as a whole. However, as always, the picture is different when looking at individual sectors.rnThe strong performers in 2008rnwere the infrastructure, with output growth of 15%, and the public non-residential sectors, with growth of 16%. Moreover, with orders in both sectors also increasing, the short-term outlook for infrastructure and public non-residential construction is not entirely gloomy.
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