The RICS Construction Market Survey showed industry activity edging-up during the first quarter of this year.

The findings fly in the face of official construction output data and back-up the positive sentiment of construction buyers.

The RICS survey found that 8% more chartered surveyors across the UK reported increases rather than decreases in workloads.

That is a significant change to the end of 2011 which showed a negative reading.

Predictions for future construction activity also saw a marked improvement in the first quarter of the year with 21% more surveyors expecting workloads to rise over the next twelve months – the most positive reading since the early part of 2008.

Job prospects are also expected to improve despite profit margins remaining under pressure.

Surveyors in London and the South East reported the highest rises in overall activity, while those in the North recorded the first positive reading since the final quarter of 2007.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist, said: “The start of the year saw a cautious level of optimism develop across the UK construction industry.

“Workloads rose across the sector, albeit modestly, and this looks as though it could continue over the next twelve months. Promisingly, this could also result in an increase in the numbers of jobs created in the sector.

“There are of course still significant hurdles to overcome. Finance for development remains a problem as does macro economic uncertainty.

“On top of this, the public sector will continue to scale back its capital spending programme putting ever more pressure on the private sector and institutional investors to deliver.”