Regeneration has started to drive growth with the pipeline of work rising from £1.8bn to £2.2bn. A further £900m is also at preferred bidder stage.

Muse was recently named as the partner by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for a major £200m redevelopment of over 15 acres with 700,000sq ft of office space. It has also secured 3.5 acres of land in Chester to create a £115m, 500,000 sq ft business quarter.

In a pre-results trading statement, Morgan Sindall warned that construction remained “competitive and impacted by public sector spending cuts”.

It added that there were bright spot ahead with commercial activity picking up gradually in London and the South east.

“Encouragingly, infrastructure markets remain healthy, and the division expects to see opportunities in power distribution, airports, rail and roads, where it has an established track record,” said chairman John Morgan.

Morgan Sindall’s construction order book was down from the half year. But he added there were significant opportunities at preferred bidder stage, including a £500m overhead line partnership for National Grid in joint venture with Vinci Energies.

Fit-out work and the forward order book for contractor Overbury recovered in the second half with tender prices still very competitive in the face of a lack of major projects.

Morgan said the housing repairs arm was making good progress with the recovery of work from its £28m deal to buy Connaught contracts, recouping £19m so far.

Overall Morgan Sindall’s order book stands at £3.3bn.