In a trading statement this morning, Carillion also said it is on target to meet all forecasts for the year after strict selective bidding helped it to steer clear of the problem contracts dragging down many of its rivals.

Chief Executive, Richard Howson predicted construction operating margin across the group would be towards 3% for 2015, when full-year results are revealed in March.

In the last few month’s Carillion’s construction arm in particular has secured preferred delivery partner positions and new contracts worth over £550m.

These include further projects for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and major wins at Paradise Circus in Birmingham and Kings Cross in London, where Argent is development manager.

A Carillion joint venture will also deliver Bundle Five of the Republic of Ireland’s schools Public Private Partnership programme, which comprises five schools located in counties Meath, Carlow, Wicklow and Wexford.

In support services, Carillion has been awarded new contracts or is in one-to-one negotiations on contracts worth over £350m. These include new facilities management contracts or contract extensions in the UK for Direct Line Group, Verizon and Virgin Media.

Howson, said: ”The pace of work winning in the second half of the year has continued to pick up, as we expected.

“Much of the £1bn of new work announced today reflects our continuing success in winning repeat work for long-term customers, consistent with our selective approach to contracts and margins.

“We also continue to see some improvements in market conditions, especially in the UK, and following the UK Government’s spending review, we expect to see further opportunities for outsourcing and capital projects over the medium term”.

He added that the value of Carillion’s order book plus probable orders at the year-end was expected to remain very strong at around £17 bn (31 December 2014: £18.6 billion).

Carillion has also just renewed and extended its banking facilities, giving it access to £1.4bn to support its growth plans.