Willmott Dixon has revealed plans to merge its housing delivery and construction teams as the firm reported a solid trading performance.

In 2016 the contractor saw its turnover dip nearly 1% to £1.22 billion (2015: £1.33bn) but profits before tax & amortisation rise 97% to reach £31.1m (2015: £15.8m).

The company also published highlights so far in 2017, with a secured forward order book at £1bn and 90% of budgeted work secured.

During the year Willmott Dixon launched Fortem (housing repairs and maintenance) and Be Living (housing development) as new brands and de-merged.

In a further reorganisation it has now decided to integrate its residential contracting operations within the general construction operation under chief operating officer John Waterman.

Willmott Dixon group chief executive, Rick Willmott, said: “This year will see concentration on our core contracting activity, making sure that we continue to shape Willmott Dixon to stay close to our customers, both private and public, and by serving their evolving needs.

“This particularly relates to our residential construction proposition, where the nature of projects is changing, with private housing developers, local authorities and housing associations creating ever more high density, mixed-tenure and mixed-use developments.

These opportunities are often ‘bundled’ as a series of projects that allow customers to work in partnership with companies like us to accelerate delivery.”

But the company has stated they are on the lookout for new opportunities, with Rick Willmott adding: “To ensure we are best positioned to deal with this strong and vibrant market opportunity, we need to change the way we operate by integrating our residential expertise and capability into our national Construction business from July.

“This will see our residential projects and teams progressively migrate to their local Construction office to better enable us to provide a seamless service with scope to expand across the whole country.

“This also fits neatly with our portfolio of national and local frameworks, including Scape where we are a partner on the new National Construction Framework with the potential for work volumes of £2.25b over the next four years, and the Southern Construction Framework, where we have the accolade of being its Contractor of the Year.

“Having consistency of operational structure, leadership and direction will absolutely reinforce our ability to deliver best in class performance for all our customers.”