New orders in the capital hit £3.75bn in Q1 2016, up by 30 per cent compared with £2.88bn of new orders reported in Q1 2015.

London remains the UK’s largest construction market, with the value of new orders now 45 per cent higher in the capital than Scotland and Wales combined.

Elsewhere, results were more mixed, with the South-west and East of England showing robust year-on-year growth, with new orders up by 11.9 per cent and 10.7 per cent respectively.

Results in the Midlands and the North proved more inconsistent, however, with new orders in the East Midlands only growing by 1 per cent and orders in the West Midlands falling by 7.7 per cent.

Yorkshire & the Humber saw orders grow by 3.1 per cent – the highest of any Northern region – while the North-west was bottom of the pack, reporting a 31.8 per cent fall in orders.

However, this was from a significantly high base, with the region reporting its highest level of new orders since before the recession in Q1 2015. New orders in the region, which stood at £1.48bn in Q1 2016, also remain well ahead of the long-term average.

New orders in Scotland remained flat at £1.56bn, while Wales saw a fall of 22 per cent, with the value of new orders hitting £1.03bn, down from £1.32bn year-on-year.