A new survey carried out within the construction industry has shown that confidence is growing despite January’s slow expansion.

The survey, carried out by PMI, illustrated that the construction industry had achieved unexpected growth last year, proving that investors are still willing to put their money into construction despite the financial struggles being faced in Great Britain.

The survey showed that revenue from the construction industry had fallen from 53.2 % to 51.4%, which was far lower than the estimated 52.6% that had been predicted.

However, the part of the survey that looked at confidence within the industry found that those in the construction industry were more confident about future growth than they had been for the past eight months.

Data compiler at Markist and economist Sarah Bingham commented that the results of the survey could indicate that the UK is not in line for a double dip recession and that those in the industry could expect increased growth over the coming year.

Although growth in the construction sector, which accounts for 8% of the total economy in the UK, shrank slightly last year, the sector has been driven forward by civil engineering and house building activity.

However, this was not enough to sustain the creation of new jobs which caused employment within construction to stagnate.

Despite this, those questioned for the PMI survey contended that they were feeling optimistic about growth over 2012 and that continued work within the housing and civil engineering sectors would help keep the industry afloat.

Although there was a marked increase in the costs of raw materials and energy prices last year, this was slightly offset by a slower rate of inflation. It is hoped that the decreased inflation rates will help all sectors of the construction industry to grow, including companies providing construction materials, lifting gear hire and town planning.

Some economists are convinced that the construction industry survey presents a strong indication that the entire economy is not in fact headed for another economic downturn, but others are warning that another recession could still be in the pipeline.