The firm added there was a huge pipeline of work coming up in the second half of 2012 and said it was on target to bid £2bn of potential new contracts this year.

The surge in orders has seen like-for-like organic growth of 12% in the firm’s core social housing repair and maintenance operation and it now claims to be a clear market leader in the UK.

David Miles, chief executive of the Mears Group said: “It is a continuing theme over the last two years that we have witnessed a number of early contract terminations for our competitors within the social housing sector on the back of poor operational performance.”

The two new housing repair jobs worth around £14m are with the London Borough of Southwark and Notting Hill Housing Trust.

He said: “The first half of 2012 has seen the most intense period of new contract mobilisation in our history with seven significant new contracts commencing in this period with an annual value of in excess of £50m.

“As anticipated, the large volume of new works has diluted the social housing operating margin in the short term as we expense the cost of this range of new work directly during the period and we will see the benefits of this significant growth as we progress through each contract.

“The pipeline is strong with our key target opportunities falling in the second half of the year with over £1.1 bn of new contracts at PQQ or tender stage and we remain on target to tender £2bn of new contract opportunities in 2012.”

The improved workload helped Mears to lift group turnover 5% to £307m in the first half of the year, with pre-tax profits up 2% at £14.3m.