Construction orders in the UK dropped by 11.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, reversing a downwardly revised 28.1% increase in the previous quarter. This was the biggest fall since the fourth quarter of 2023, dragged down by a decline in orders for other work (-18.8% vs 33.9% in Q4). Private commercial orders slumped (-23.0% vs 5.9%), as did other infrastructure orders (-36.3% vs 69.7%), while growth in private industrial orders (4.0% vs 56.4%) and other new work excluding infrastructure (12.9% vs 42.9%) slowed markedly. Meanwhile, new housing orders picked up (15.9% vs 12.7%), driven mainly by a sharp increase in private housing orders (17.7% vs 2.9%), which offset a significant slowdown in public housing orders (3.9% vs 99.7%). On a quarterly basis, construction orders decreased by 10.5%, following an upwardly revised 4.4% fall in the prior period.