Consultancy revenue jumped by just over a third to hit £500m, while project delays at the main construction business saw revenue dip £100m to £1.4bn.

Mace also delivered more than £214m of construction work through its construction management projects, not included in overall revenue.

Across the group, underlying profitability remained steady although pre-tax profit slipped 5% to £36m after a £13m hit on a revalued development joint venture for a mixed-use scheme in Oxford.

Over the year, Mace secured more than £2.1bn of new projects despite continued impacts on the sector from planning delays, material inflation and energy costs.

Mark Reynolds, chairman and group chief executive, said he remained confident Mace remained on track to become a £3bn revenue business, employing more than 9,000 people across the world by 2026.

He said 2023 was shaping up to be another record year for the firm with its pipeline for 2023 77% secured by the end of 2022 (2021: 71%), with clear opportunities for growth in both the UK and international markets.

Reynolds said: “Now two years into our 2026 Business Strategy, we are confident we have the pipeline and growth trajectory to meet the ambitious targets we set out to achieve in 2021, and we will be recruiting 2,000 new colleagues over the next three years and expect to grow the group by a further billion pounds in revenue.

“Across the group, we won significant new projects, programmes and contracts, including significant expansion into new sectors, such as life sciences.

“We also secured long-term revenue and margin through appointments on some of the world’s largest and most complex infrastructure and regeneration programmes.”