In the UK, Lend Lease’s construction arm is also expanding again after new work secured during the six months nearly doubled to £474m.

Among recent deals are a £170m contract for the Kingsgate House office project in Victoria London, several Ministry of Defence projects and the £70m Cramlington Hospital project in Northumbria.

The firm is also gearing up for work start on the £1.5bn Elephant and Castle regeneration scheme where it gained approval from Southwark Council for the regeneration masterplan last month and detailed planing for the first residential phase known as One Elephant.

Across the EMEA region, Lend Lease held construction margins at 2.4% while the construction order backlog rose 14% to £975m.

An 8% dip in EMEA construction turnover to £318m and fall in pre-tax profits from £4.5m to £4.4m was put down to a slowdow in Spain, Italy and Russia.

Across the global Australian-based construction and property group, Lend Lease revenue rose 8% to A$6.2bn on pre-tax profits up 24% at A$349m.