In a trading statement this morning the firm said the poorly performing division was expected to run up a loss of £5 million in its first half of the year.

The results come just three months after ISG said it remains confident its construction woes are behind them.

David Lawther, chief executive officer, warned that disappointing UK construction trading would now overshadow strong performances at both its fitout and engineering services divisions.

He said: “We continue to work on the recovery plan for UK Construction. Despite the many positive steps we have taken, we have continued to experience disappointing project outcomes on some older contracts. In addition, with margin and risk control remaining our priority rather than volume and some customers delaying the start on site of their projects, volumes this year will be below our expectations with profit deferred to later periods. As a consequence, this division will be loss making this year and will impact the group results by up to £5m.”

All other divisions are trading in line with expectations.