The developer reported revenues down 22% to £100m for the six months to 31 March as lower transaction activity continued to weigh on performance. Operating profit held flat at £0.4m despite the slowdown.

Watkin Jones said its growing Refresh refurbishment division was continuing to gain traction in the market with pipeline opportunities swelling to around £135m.

Bosses are increasingly looking to refurbishment and single family living homes development partnerships to diversify away from volatile forward-funded student housing deals.

Development Partnerships revenue climbed to £44m from £32m last time while the wider pipeline in the division grew 20% during the half year. The group also secured planning consent for around 800 new living units.

Chief executive Alex Pease said the business had delivered a “resilient performance” despite challenging conditions.

He said: “Our integrated platform continues to be a key differentiator, enabling us to identify incremental opportunities to deploy capabilities and diversify revenues across Development Partnerships, Refresh and adjacent sectors.”

Build-to-rent revenues plunged from £90m to £52m after several schemes completed last year, although PBSA revenues rose to £33m driven by projects in Glasgow and Bristol.

Watkin Jones ended the period with adjusted net cash of £61m and a secured pipeline worth around £1.3bn, including £300m of forward sold revenue.

The contractor said several schemes currently being marketed could underpin an improved second half performance, although the timing of further transactions would have a major bearing on the full-year outcome.