The surge in building activity continued strongly in 1997 with all sectors of the industry growing for the fourth successive year, figures released by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) have shown.

The CIF is forecasting that growth will continue this year and the value of the industry will reach £8 billion, an increase of 8 per cent on last year's record figures.

Not surprisingly, the biggest growth has taken place in the civil engineering sector, which is being greatly boosted by EU funding and increased capital expenditure. The value of new contracts was almost £900 million, an increase of 20 per cent on 1996 levels. Repair and maintenance contracts which are ongoing grew by 5.1 per cent.

This year the CIF expects civil engineering to grow by 17.1 per cent. Overall, it says all construction will grow by 8.6 per cent, down slightly from 1997's growth rate of 11.3 per cent. General contracting is set to grow by almost 14 per cent, up almost 2 per cent on 1997 figures. Housing building will rise by 3.7 per cent, compared to last year's figure of 12.7 per cent.

The CIF is also predicting that employment in the industry will grow by a further 6,000 this year, bringing direct employment to 106,000, and, when combined with those employed indirectly to 135,000.

However, the CIF said yesterday that in the civil engineering sector a number of projects which would have "a significant impact on activity levels" are currently held up in the design/planning stages. These include the Dublin Port Access route, the Southern Cross Motorway and the Dublin Bay, Galway and Cork waste water treatment plants.

CIF chairman Mr Kevin Kelly said his organisation was suggesting that the Government appoint a "sponsor" - perhaps a junior minister to oversee the implementation of such projects.

CIF director-general Mr Liam Kelleher said although the Government now realised that investment in infrastructure was vital, the issue of reduced EU-funding for Ireland, post-1999 would have to be addressed.