Partnership housing specialist Lovell says it has seen higher levels of construction and sales activity, despite the pandemic.

Lovell has helped parent company, Morgan Sindall Group plc, deliver an adjusted operating profit of £68.5m.

The construction and regeneration group now expects profit to be materially ahead of its previous expectations and slightly ahead of that delivered in 2019.

Lovell regional managing director, Lee Sale says: "Since we announced our half year results back in August, the impact of the pandemic continues to be a dominant factor in our lives.

"Yet, despite the complexity and enormity of the issues we face we have seen higher levels of construction and sales activity."

Lovell reported an operating profit of £16.1m which was 12% down on the previous year due to COVID related delays on sites; however, the secured order book grew significantly to c£1.3 billion.

Mr Sale added: "Going forward, we must not lose sight of the wider issues. Tackling climate change and reducing our carbon footprint is critical and by harnessing the resources, knowledge and skills of the wider Group, we can make a much bigger impact.

"Greater forward planning and collaboration has been one of the positive outcomes of COVID-19 and as we have demonstrated in the last year, if we remain open-minded and dispense with out-dated methods of doing business, we can make progress faster."

During 2020, Lovell built c2200 homes nationwide ranging from new-build open market homes, private rented sector housing and affordable homes to large-scale refurbishment and housing-led regeneration programmes.

The North West team are currently working on a number of new projects, including some developments that are due to take place in Cumbria.