The large ground engineering contractor said the pick-up it had been banking on after a tough 2025 had yet to materialise, with projects across all sectors being held up.

In particular, the firm blamed Building Safety Act approval delays for high-rise residential jobs as a major drag on workload.

Van Elle said revenue had failed to grow as expected in the opening months of its financial year to April 2026 with full-year trading and profitability now expected to fall materially short of market forecasts and come in below last year.

Despite the warning, Van Elle stressed the medium-term outlook was far brighter.

The group said it was eyeing growth in the energy and water sectors and had already made “good early progress” in securing work there.

The order book remains strong at £47m as of the end of July, up from £41.5m at the April year-end.

A half-year trading update will follow in December.