This brought in a pre-tax profit of £4.2m, which compares with £3.5m in 2020.

Beard says that it completed 59 projects in 2021, including the construction of schools, sports facilities, and student accommodation blocks.

In doing so, Beard managed to reduce carbon emissions by 9% on 2019.

On this, Beard financial director Fraser Johns comments: “We are more committed than ever to drive down carbon emissions and invest further in strategies to remove carbon from our atmosphere.

“Whilst we’ve taken significant steps to ensure our energy is procured from renewables, we’ve seen the biggest impact in the introduction of flexible working which has significantly reduced travel time between offices.”

Beard puts it success in 2021 down to its “strong” supply chain. Johns explains: “As a responsible business, Beard has always treated its suppliers and contractors fairly and has paid promptly for materials and work.

“This tradition of doing the right thing, coupled with strong financial controls within the company, meant that Beard was well positioned to cope with the supply chain issues that impacted the construction sector in 2021, and is likely to continue in the coming year.”

“We would like to thank our people and all those in our supply chain for helping to ensure that our projects were delivered successfully last year, and we look forward to their continuing support as we move into 2022 with a healthy project pipeline,” Johns concludes.