Willmott said project completions could be delayed and new projects made financially unviable by soaring cost inflation.

He said: “We are concerned for the industry because of the medium-term impact of Covid-19 on the global supply of materials.

“Spiralling demand and restricted supply could create a number of immediate pressures in our sector, including:

• rampant cost inflation in a generally fixed price environment will quickly erode supply chain margin
• unavailability of materials will delay project completions
• capital projects may no longer be financially viable leading to a hiatus in contract awards.

“These are clearly areas that the wider industry will need to monitor carefully.”

Willmott issued the warning as the company posted its latest results and details of how it is bouncing back from the impact of the pandemic.

Pre-tax profit for the year to December 31 2020 fell to £11.9m from £31.3m last time on turnover down to £1.191bn from £1.246bn.

Willmott said:”It was not possible to avoid Covid-19 impacting financial performance, and the task in 2021 is to repair that as much as possible.”