The group, which specialises in projects worth up to £20m in its selected markets, lifted pre-tax profit by a similar rate to £4.5m and also ended the year with a record order book.

Beard’s chairman, Mark Beard, said: “2018 has been a good year for the Group with favourable market conditions generating healthy levels of turnover and profit.

“With a strong order book currently standing at £105m, and our ongoing investment in growing our own skilled workforce, we expect this positive momentum to continue in 2019.”

The business, which operates out of offices in Bristol, Swindon, Oxford and Guildford, is now placed on 25 framework agreements.

It recently secured a place on Pagabo’s £1bn national framework for medium works across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex; Hampshire/Isle of Wight, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bristol/Bath, Dorset and Somerset.

The three-year framework with a one-year extension option, is for all public sector contracting authorities and covers education, health, sports, leisure, prisons and emergency services building projects in the £250,000 to £5m value range.