The Durkan Group is shifting its focus from main contracting and wants to triple the headcount of employees in its recently rebranded housing maintanance and retrofit business over the next couple of years.

The pivot comes after what chair Daniel Durkan described in the companies’ latest financial accounts as ”two years of operating losses caused by challenging trading conditions in the housebuilding and construction markets, and unprecedented adverse macroeconomic headwinds”.

The group saw an increase in turnover this year, but it fell to a pre-tax loss due to an exceptional £9.3m fire safety remediation bill.