The firm saw pre-tax profit surge nearly 60% to £55m in the year to December 2022, not including a one-off gain of £29m the year before from the sale of its infrastructure services business.

Revenue was also up a quarter to £1.4bn as the firm benefitted from HS2 throughput and secured new contracts.

Big wins included a £235m deal for offices at Victoria Street in London, a £259m vehicle storage hub for the army in Tewksbury and the A46 Newark Bypass expected to cost between £400m and £500m.

Chief financial officer and executive vice president Meliha Duymaz, who joined Skanska UK from Network Rail in September, said the business was in a strong position for the year ahead.

Skanska closed 2022 with £1.5bn of orders, up 15% on the prior year, supported by £441m of cash.

Since the year-end Katy Dowding took over as new president and CEO of Skanska UK in May, replacing Gregor Craig who has retired.

Dowding has been at Skanska for 20 years most recently as a member of Skanska UK’s Executive Management Team and since 2017 as executive vice president with responsibility for Skanska UK’s building and building services businesses.

Average headcount at Skanska dipped by around 420 to 3,435 staff last year.