The contractor has launched a new five-year strategy aimed at ramping up housing maintenance work after admitting it had previously been “too risk averse” in tendering.

Plans also include expanding specialist expertise in compliance, building safety and asset quality to meet rising regulatory demands in the social housing sector.

The business will also step up activity in the decarbonisation and retrofit space, supported by growing in-house capability.

CEO Lucas Critchley said: “During the year, the business carried out a full strategic update. We continue to see significant opportunities within the affordable housing sector.

“While the senior executive team, supported by external industry expertise, considered a number of adjacencies and new markets, it is really pleasing to identify significant untapped opportunities in our existing sector, with some expansion of capability to reflect current and emerging opportunities.”

The Group has been steadily building an internal compliance arm, covering gas servicing, electrical testing, fire safety, damp and mould, and full asset condition surveys.

Despite evolving its offer, Critchley said the business remained firmly rooted in local government housing maintenance following a standout year for contract retention.

Mears achieved a 100% rebid success rate in 2024 across a swathe of major long-term contracts—representing around one-third of its maintenance-led portfolio.

The wins spanned a wide range of clients and contract sizes, including flagship deals with North Lanarkshire, Medway, Thanet, Folkestone and Dover. The business also secured key extensions in Rotherham, Islington and Thurrock.

The standout North Lanarkshire contract, worth over £125m annually and covering 37,000 homes and 1,200 buildings, has now been successfully mobilised.

Mears also returned to Moat Housing with an 18-month, £12m emergency maintenance deal covering 22,000 homes—two years after losing the contract in a previous procurement round.

Group revenue rose 4% to £1.13bn last year, with profit before tax up 37% to £64m. Adjusted operating margin climbed to 5.6%—surpassing the Group’s 5% long-term benchmark and up from 4.7% the previous year.

Critchley added: “The group has made a strong start to FY25. We anticipate delivering solid growth in our local government maintenance work, following a strong period of contract retention and further augmented by additional Compliance services and through extending our focus to planned and retrofit activities.

“We remain well-positioned to deliver additional services to our Central Government clients.”