The construction industry in Northern Ireland will grow at a rate of 2% a year to 2016, a report has said.

However builders will be recovering from a much steeper drop in output than the UK as a whole and in five years there will still not be a full recovery, the Construction Skills Network (CSN) paper added.

Barry Neilson, spokesman for the network, said: "The past few years have been really tough for the construction sector but as the CSN forecasts show there will be a slight growth in output for Northern Ireland.

"As output in the Northern Ireland construction industry had declined significantly over recent years it is promising to see growth forecasted over the five-year period.

"Despite the predicted growth in output over the forecast period, output in the construction industry in Northern Ireland will not have reached its 2007-08 level and so in five years time we will still not have achieved full recovery."

Annual average output in Northern Ireland is projected to expand at a rate of 2.1% over the five years to 2016, a stronger rate than for the UK as a whole (1.4%). However the industry will be recovering from a much steeper drop in output than the UK (31% compared with 16%).

Employment in the construction industry is projected to grow slowly at an annual average rate of 1.3% between 2012 and 2016. This is a better rate than the UK as a whole (0.6% a year) but employment is recovering from a much greater fall from its peak in 2007 than in the UK (28% compared with 10%).

Mr Neilson added: "Whilst the forecast predictions highlight a slight growth, the construction sector still is a long way from full recovery.

"The draft Programme for Government has outlined the key capital projects that the Northern Ireland Executive plan to take forward and we welcome investment in these areas.

"However there are more and more construction businesses that have ceased trading and have not been able to ride the economic storm."