Figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed output from the construction sector shrank 0.1 per cent month-on-month in August after a sharp rise of 2.8 per cent in July.
The figures come days after separate ONS data revealed a double blow as manufacturing performance declined 1.2 per cent in August, while the monthly trade deficit remained stubbornly high at 3.3 billion.
Analysts at Investec have cut back their third-quarter growth estimates for the overall economy from 1 per cent to 0.8 per cent, and reduced the full-year forecast from 1.6 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
The disappointing figures are likely to dampen the sunny mood of recent months inspired by burgeoning retail sales and improving performance across the main sectors of the economy.
The new construction data showed cutbacks in public sector activity and a fall in repair and maintenance among private households - amid a squeeze in real incomes.
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But there were increases in private industrial and private housing work - the latter sub-sector, buoyed by Government initiatives such as Help to Buy, rose 1.6 per cent and was up 18.1 per cent year-on-year.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the construction sector was still on course to provide a boost to the economy for the third quarter of 2013. Output in August was 4 per cent up on the same period in 2012.
But it is still struggling to recover from the damaging effect of the economic downturn, with figures earlier this year showing output remained 14.7 per cent below its pre-recession peak.
