Vinci stayed in the red last year at its UK business despite revenue at the group, which includes its building, FM and highways arms, breaking the £2bn mark.

The firm narrowed pre-tax losses to £6.4m from £14.3m on turnover up a third to £2.3bn.

Vinci, whose business also includes the Taylor Woodrow civils arm, said its numbers were hit by provisions at its building and FM sectors. The firm has combined its results for its UK businesses into one company called Vinci Construction Holding.

It said a fixed-price student accommodation scheme, believed to be for University College London at Stratford, won in 2021 blighted its building business’s figures while it said the division was also hit by legacy fire and cladding costs in the wake of government legislation.

It added that a loss-making job to build a specialist hospital scheme in Birmingham for a local NHS trust and HCA Healthcare had now been completed.

The problem FM job is believed to be a PFI contract with the Coventry and Rugby Hospital Company.

It said that its specialist contracting business Eurovia, highways maintenance business Ringway and Taylor Woodrow all had “exceptional” results with the firm adding that its three-year plan including getting an operating margin across each business unit of 2%.

But results filed for Vinci Construction UK, which includes its building, civils and FM businesses but not its Eurovia or highways divisions, show that pre-tax losses jumped from £43m to £51m last year on turnover up 7% to £1.3bn.

Meanwhile, the firm has appointed Emmanuel Costes as its new managing director for its major projects business in the UK and Ireland know as Grand Projects. He was previously area director for its HS2 project in Birmingham that it is carrying out with Balfour Beatty and Systra.