The firm raised turnover by 10% to £193m delivering a pre-tax profits of £3.2m compared to £600,000 the year before.

Headquartered in Durham, Esh Group now has extensive operations throughout the north of England and southern Scotland, after buying Borders Construction early this year.

It directly employs 1,100 staff after growing quickly in recent years, to incorporate over 20 brands covering housing developments to building, civil engineering and fencing.

The housing business works in a joint venture with Swedish partner, Sodra, producing zero energy housing and plans several Cumbria and Northumberland in the near future.

Brian Manning, chief executive of Esh Group, said: “Our diverse product range delivers quality through brands which are well-recognised across the North East such as Lumsden & Carroll, Esh Property Services and Esh Build, all of which have and continue to serve us well.

“Our aim is now to replicate the breadth and quality of these services across the greater North and Scotland from our existing bases in Yorkshire and Cumbria and those newly-acquired through the addition of Esh Border Construction.

“As part of our investment in regional structures we will be carrying out a comprehensive review prior to updating our IT systems in order that we are well-equipped to deliver the next phase of our growth.“

Manning, who has fought hard to give local and regional contractors access to the new generation of local authority frameworks, added: “Substantial challenges still exist in the area of public procurement where we continue to fight the cause for both ourselves and regional contractors in general.”