McAlpine delivered a £7.35m pre-tax profit last year after paying out more than £3.8m in redundancy and restructuring costs.

McAlpine, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, has adopted a new business strategy that has seen it drop bidding for fixed price work.

It is now pushing for more collaborative working and also has set its sights on gaining more of the lower risk construction management market, where it hopes to generate around a third of future annual revenue.

The shift in bidding strategy saw revenue slip back slightly to £788m from £852m previously.

Hamer, who took the helm at McAlpine two years ago after it suffered a series of loss-making years, said the firm was now firmly back on track.

“This performance, alongside continued financial resilience and a healthy secured pipeline of work, represents a solid stepping stone for the business.”

He added: “We remain cautious but optimistic about our prospects in 2019 as our order book continues to grow year on year.

“We will continue to move the company away from fixed priced risk to a more collaborative approach with our clients and supply chain partners.”

He said that McAlpine was committed to nurturing the supply chain and had improved payment period to 35 days over the year.

“We continue to grow our market share of the construction management sector which provides a strong income stream with a lower level of risk than traditional contracting.

“With our new five-year strategy in place, we have the opportunity to build on our strengthening performance as we work to deliver on our ambition to become the best place to work in the construction industry and the best builder in the UK,” he added.

The firm ended the year with cash of £73m up from £66m.