The brickwork contractor was hit when the two-staircase rule for residential towers was lowered from 30m to 18m in July 2023.

Clients paused schemes to redesign, pushing back around £30m of secured work by up to nine months.

Despite the programme setback, pre-tax profit rose 25% to £3.6m as the group cut overheads and boosted project returns.

The major cost restructuring saw senior management layers removed and greater responsibility pushed through the business, cutting admin expenses by 7% and improving returns by 5% between the first and second halves of 2024.

The latest figures complete a business turnaround following a £2.2m slide into the red in 2022 in the face of wage and materials inflation.

The year-end order book swelled to £135m with LMB ending the year with £2m cash in hand, continuing to reinvest in its scaffolding arm and training operations.

LMB also expanded its in-house apprenticeship academy, enrolling 26 new starters to take total apprentices to 117 across the UK. The firm has now gained approval to deliver Level 2 and Level 3 brickwork apprenticeships.