New orders increased by 12.2% (£1,227m) in quarter one 2021 compared with quarter four 2020.
This follows a fall of 7.8% (£848m) in quarter four 2020, but was 13.3% lower than quarter one 2020.
The annual rate of construction output price growth was 1.8% in March 2021.
Gareth Belsham, director of Naismiths, said: “Construction barely bothered with a bounce-back. It has jumped straight back into a boom.
“While March’s gravity-defying 5.8% jump in output may grab the headlines, it’s the industry’s solid growth across the first quarter as a whole that is most encouraging.
“The £1bn, 2.6% expansion over the quarter would be impressive at any time. But coming at a time when the UK was under strict lockdown and all other sectors of the economy were shrinking, it’s a testament to the construction industry’s resilience and ability to incorporate socially distant ways of working.
Construction output increased by 5.8% on a monthly basis in March this year, shows new ONS data. Totalling £14.25bn of output, this is the most rapid growth rate witnessed since July 2020, when output grew by 17.8%. This latest construction output figure is 2.4% - or £334m - above the February 2020 pre-pandemic