Lovell, the Glasgow-based housing developer, expects to build more than 680 houses in Scotland in 2018 and has an order book of about £102 million north of the border alone.

The company also contributed to positive half year results released for the six months to June 30 by parent construction company Morgan Sindall Group plc, as did urban regeneration and property development company Muse Developments, which has offices in Glasgow.

Morgan Sindall Group has delivered profit growth in the first half of this year with adjusted operating profit up 28 per cent to £31.9m against £24.9m for the same time last year, on revenue of £1.4 billion, a 9% increase on the previous half year.

The group reports an order book of £3.6bn with adjusted earnings per share up 28% for the period to 55.6p.

The interim dividend has increased by 19% to 19p with the group declaring it is “confident of a strong performance for the second half of 2018”.

In Scotland, Lovell’s regional forward order book exceeds £102m as its business continues to expand.

Steve Coleby, Lovell managing director, said: “Boosting housing supply and helping more people into home ownership continue to be national priorities for Lovell.

“Our strong record of working with housing association and local authority partners to answer the demand for new homes and unlock land for development means we are well placed to help bring forward quality homes available to people across a range of incomes in the places where they are most needed.

“This is reflected in the company’s combined national forward order book and regeneration and development pipeline which is now worth over £1.16 billion.”

The Herald:

Among Lovell’s key developments is Lochside Grange, a £25m development of 133 homes in Kinghorn, Fife, above, which is being delivered in partnership with Kingdom Housing Association and Fife Council and the company is also Renfrewshire Council’s preferred contractor for a £10m contract to build 80 social rented homes at Bishopton.

Muse moved forward on 21 projects with a total construction value of £450m with developments reported as "progressing well across the country", while the company, which expects a further £310m of contract awards over the next six months, also maintained a healthy order book and development pipeline, which now stands at £2.2bn.

Construction was completed on the £107m Marischal Square development in Aberdeen city centre which was built by Muse’s sister company Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure.