Site preparation for building projects started to rise and helped firms record overall growth in the civil engineering sector for the second consecutive quarter.

The latest trade survey by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association follows positive news from specialist contractors and another positive result from construction buyers.

CECA director of external affairs Alasdair Reisner said: “This good news for the industry must be put in context. It is clear that certain sectors are driving growth while others – particularly the motorways and local roads sectors – continue to face challenging market conditions.

“It is far too early to be talking about a recovery in the sector as a whole, let alone successfully addressing the looming infrastructure deficit Britain faces over the coming years.

“Nonetheless, the news that the industry is growing – albeit slowly – and that certain sectors, such as preliminary works, are showing positive results, should be welcomed.”

On balance, 1% of CECA members stated that their workloads had increased year-on-year in the last twelve months, employment in the industry increased in Great Britain as a whole, and future workloads were forecast to rise by 10% of firms, on balance.

Workloads in the motorways and local roads sectors continued to deteriorate and, on balance, 43% and 30% of firms, respectively, indicated that activity fell in these sectors.