The improvement came despite a sharp fall in revenue last year to £562m, due to jobs completing and a hiatus in progress at its One Nine Elms tower job caused by client finance issues.

Robust project operational delivery saw pre-tax profit restored to £11m, up from just £2.6m in 2021.

Before extra administration and finance costs, Multiplex said this equated to a construction margin of 2.9%.

Multiplex’s UK managing director Callum Tuckett said the firm has just enjoyed a strong period of work winning which would start to deliver meaningful turnover this year and beyond.

Multiplex’s orderbook stood at £2.4bn (2021: £2.7bn) at the year-end and included three multi-use projects worth £1.8bn, five commercial projects worth £450m and several higher education wins worth £150m.

He said Multiplex had also secured several pre-construction services agreement deals in 2022 and in early 2023 valued at over £1bn.

These included the fit-out of the former US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, redevelopment of the grade II-listed  IBM building on London’s South Bank, known as 76 Upper Ground, and the 50-storey residential tower at Native Land’s Bankside Yards scheme near Blackfriars Bridge.

Tuckett added that further PCSA’s had been secured on several commercial schemes, which Multiplex aimed to convert into main contracts this year.