The employee-owned contractor said that strong trading through the year had been held back by completion of remaining fixed-price contracts secured in earlier years.

These final challenging projects had a cost base from 2020 and included student accommodation, care and residential projects affected by market pressures throughout, including subcontractor failures.

But a sharper focus on negotiated work and repeat business saw revenue rise 7% to £77m generating a profit of £330,000 in the year to December 2023.

Clegg said it now enjoys a pipeline of well-performing contracts trading through 2024 and extending into 2025.

This pipeline was built across several sectors providing resilience in the supply of work and funding streams. It includes defence, education, residential, care, leisure and commercial jobs ranging from £5m to £35m.

The firm has further strengthened internal departments in readiness to deliver a larger order book in 2024 and beyond.

The design management department was expanded to a team of seven with the position of Head of Design created to lead process development and impart necessary protocols to deliver schemes following the changes brought about by the Building Safety Act.

The overall Clegg Group performance, which includes specialist contracting arm Clegg Food Projects, reported revenue down slightly at £159m with pre-tax profit down to £560,000 from £1.5m previously.