The residential developer and manager has signed six contracts during the second half of its financial year to date, including five through its Refresh division delivering remediation, fire safety, refurbishment and asset improvement works to existing purpose built student accommodation schemes.

The jobs cover buildings of 1,750 student beds in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Watkin Jones has also partnered with Marick Real Estate to develop a Staycity aparthotel in Oxford city centre.

The retrofit projects reflect growing demand from investors to modernise ageing student accommodation, improving fire safety, sustainability and operating efficiency while extending the life of existing assets.

Watkin Jones said the new retrofit work had been secured at margins in line with guidance, strengthening its forward pipeline while live construction projects continue to perform in line with expectations.

The group has also brought forward procurement of selected subcontract packages and materials to help limit inflationary pressures.

Chief executive Alex Pease warned that delivering improved second half operating profit still depended on completing a small number of investment transactions before its year end, with fragile real estate funding markets continuing to pose a risk.

He said: “While market conditions remain challenging and continue to impact the pace of recovery and short-term real estate transaction liquidity, the long-term fundamentals of our end markets remain attractive.

“The signing of six new contracts, with a combined value of £60m at margins in line with guidance, signals further progress of our strategy to diversify the business, allowing us to strengthen our secured pipeline and enhance future revenue predictability.”