Northern Ireland's construction sector remains firmly in the grip of a significant downturn despite improvement in the industry in Britain, a major survey has revealed.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey said that while a boost in public spending had helped other regions, Northern Ireland companies reported falling workloads.

The Construction Market Survey also showed that firms fear the picture will not improve over the next year.

RICS Northern Ireland spokesman John Davidson said: "Development finance is still very much in short supply and the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland has come under a large amount of pressure, so it is not surprising that workloads in Northern Ireland are still falling significantly.

"With little prospect of the situation regarding development finance improving to any significant degree in the next 12 months and large cuts in public spending inevitable, it is also not surprising that local surveyors are pessimistic about next year."

The survey found 51 per cent of Northern Ireland chartered surveyors questioned said that their workloads fell in the period between July and September. This compared to a net balance of 6 per cent for those surveyed in Britain.

Across all sectors, Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of chartered surveyors reporting falling workloads in the UK, with the public housing construction sector the most negative.

The only sectors of the industry to experience any improvement were infrastructure and private housing, but both remained firmly in negative territory and are more negative than in Britain.

Looking 12 months ahead, surveyors in Northern Ireland are amongst the most pessimistic.

Only Scotland has a higher proportion of chartered surveyors expecting their workloads to be lower in a year's time.