The British economy expanded at a faster pace than expected, clocking a growth rate of 1.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, boosted by robust activities in the construction sector.

The European economic major, which is slowly recovering from the blows of the financial meltdown, was estimated to have expanded 1.1 per cent in the second quarter.

Moreover, the quarterly growth of 1.2 per cent is reported to be fastest since 2001.

"GDP increased by 1.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, revised up from 1.1 per cent. GDP in the second quarter of 2010 is now 1.7 per cent higher than the second quarter of 2009," the UK Office for National Statistics said in a statement today.

The encouraging UK economic data comes at a time when the US is grappling with faltering recovery, a scenario which has also raised concerns about the health of global economy.

The US would be announcing second estimates of its second-quarter GDP later today.

In the quarter ended June 2010, UK's construction output shot up to 8.5 per cent, higher than the preliminary projection of 6.6 per cent.

Manufacturing sector saw a growth of 1.6 per cent while output of service industries was revised down to 0.7 per cent