The move on public sector work follows a new strategy to reduce the firm’s reliance on a handful of major clients, while remaining selective about which projects to pursue.

Last year this helped Style & Wood lift underlying profit before tax by 26% to £4.10m. Although delays on major frameworks with existing banking clients saw revenue slip 9% to £105m.

In the last six months, Styles & Wood has acquired Sussex-based digital centre builder Keysource and Dartford mechanical, electrical and environmental consultant GDM Group.

These acquistions are helping to spearhead a move into property consultancy work and FM.

Announcing last annual results, Tony Lenehan, CEO of Styles & Wood Group plc, said: “Our selective approach to new business opportunities and cross-sector diversification continues to benefit the group.

“Additionally,  we have made significant progress with our diversification strategy. The acquisitions of Keysource and, post-period The GDM Group, further broaden our service line capabilities and reinforce our differentiated position within our core markets.

“The group goes into 2017 in good shape, with a healthy forward order book, strong balance sheet and an unrelenting focus on delivering a truly integrated property services solution to our customers.”

The firm’s order book for this year is around 29% ahead of prior year, strengthened by the recent  acquisitions.

Also, the level and concentration of relevant framework opportunities being pursued by the Group is also significantly ahead of prior year.

Lenehan added: “Significant new opportunities are now presenting themselves in the public sector.

“The associated framework pipeline includes the grouping of refurbishment and fit-out for commercial offices, through the Government Hub initiative, and the aggregation of large scale capital expenditure in the Education Funding Agency framework retender, which is planned for later in the year.

“With successful reference projects and a clear understanding of routes to market, the Group is well positioned to address these and other specific targets.”