But the firm, bought by French construction giant Bouygues in 2022, said its new core focus on student new build, energy retrofit and housing refurb markets was starting to advance operational profitability.

The contractor racked up another £29m pre-tax loss in 2024, after swallowing £50m of non-recurring costs from the final stages of its restructuring and completing old new build jobs.

These charges come on top of £53m in exceptional costs booked the previous year, linked to the decision to ditch new build activity entirely by the end of 2025.

But underneath the one-off hits, the core business remains in the black. Underlying operations delivered a £22.3m operating profit on £652m turnover, up from £16.2m the previous year.

The shift away from competitive design and build jobs is already paying off. Operating margin on core activity rose to 3%, while turnover stayed steady despite the restructure.

Looking forward, Equans Regeneration said it had picked up major long-term housing frameworks including:

• A £400m two-year interim deal with Birmingham City Council to deliver social housing maintenance and retrofit upgrades.

• A £94m contract with Anchor covering 18,000 homes across the North and Midlands – the largest under Anchor’s new national repairs model.

• A £120m fire safety remediation programme with Southern Housing, due to run until 2028.

The firm is also ramping up work under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, delivering retrofit upgrades across homes in North Lincolnshire, Suffolk, Harrow, Swindon and London for a combined £20.8m, plus further deals with 54North Homes, Clarion, L&Q and Notting Hill Genesis.

A Midlands-wide retrofit programme, set to bring in £19.9m of work during 2025, will see Equans roll out insulation, low-carbon heating, and renewable energy solutions across thousands of homes.