Aside from a dip at the start of the pandemic, the degree of positive sentiment surrounding industry outlook in November has tied the level recorded in December 2008, the new data showed.

The index, which measures month-on-month changes in total industry activity, registered at 50.4 in November — the third consecutive month it has registered above the 50.0 no-change mark.

Commercial construction was the only sector to report an overall rise in business activity, while housebuilding activity stalled, and civil engineering activity declined for the fifth consecutive month.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "Stalling house building activity contributed to the weakest UK construction sector performance for three months in November.

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“Survey respondents noted that new residential building projects had been curtailed in response to rising interest rates, cancelled sales and worries about the economic outlook.

"Construction growth was largely confined to the commercial segment, but even here the speed of expansion slowed considerably since October as client confidence weakened in response to heightened business uncertainty.

“At the same time, a lack of new work to replace completed projects resulted in another fall in civil engineering activity.

"The number of construction firms anticipating a rise in overall business activity during the year ahead exceeded those forecasting a decline by only a very fine margin during November.

“Moreover, disregarding a three-month period of negative sentiment at the start of the pandemic, our survey measure of business expectations across the construction sector was the joint-weakest since December 2008.”