New research by the Royal Institution of Surveyors has found that 8pc of the UK's construction workers come from the European Union and could be lost due to Brexit.

It warned that 176,500 workers could be lost as a result of a hard Brexit, jeopardising a construction pipeline worth more than £500bn.

While 8pc of workers across the country are EU nationals, in London that amount rises to an average of 25pc.

But David Montague, chief executive of housing association London & Quadrant, said that on some sites up to 70pc of the workforce was made up of EU nationals, and Tony Pidgley, the chairman of house builder Berkeley said before the EU referendum that 50pc of his subcontractors were from Eastern Europe.