Watkin Jones stayed in the red for the first half of the year although the build-to-rent and student housing specialist narrowed its losses considerably from last time.

In half year results for the six months to 31 March, the firm this morning said pre-tax losses were £800,000 – down from £16.6m for the same period last year with that number affected by the company setting aside £28m to cover cladding remediation work on its buildings.