Known as Briggs & Forrester Smart, the new business will target commercial, pharmaceutical and retail facilities providing fast fit-out solutions.

This will include detailed design, supply, installation and commissioning.

The Northampton headquartered firm said that sales activities had commenced with “customers warming” to the provision of the additional service.

Briggs & Forrester set out its plans as it reported the business had expanded strongly over the last year with revenue rising 22% to £222m.

Pretax profit rose nearly a fifth to £4.9m in the year to October 2018, against what was described as a challenging environment.

Despite wider economic uncertainty, with strong forward orders Briggs & Forrester is forecasting good growth ahead.

The forward order book stands at £374m (2017: £296m) with a further £137m of contracts at final stages of negotiation.

Recent wins include being named among the preferred M&E firms to deliver developer Allied London’s St Johns scheme in Manchester.

As part of a steady national growth plan, the group has expanded into south Wales from its south west business.

“We expected to see further opportunities for growth during 2019, 2020 and beyond,” it said in private accounts.

As a result of growth, the M&E specialist said it expected to see further growth in staff numbers which were up 9% last year to 874 employees.