The head of Galliford Try's construction arm reiterated his support for the Scottish Government's infrastructure investment policies which he said are helping keep the market in Scotland in better shape than south of the Border.

Ken Gillespie said strong activity in public-sector markets helped the company's Morrison Construction business make progress amid challenging economic conditions during the year to June when it increased turnover and employee numbers in Scotland.

"The Scottish Government have very early realised the economic benefits from infrastructure investment and been very active in identifying a pipeline of projects and transforming that into real work on the ground," said Mr Gillespie.

"The Coalition approach was to cut, cut and cut. Some of that has come back. They are now talking about the need to get shovel-ready projects on the ground. Scotland has been doing that effectively for two years."

Mr Gillespie said he expects the Scottish business to remain busy on the basis of work in the pipeline or expected to come to market, assuming it submits enough successful bids.

However, Galliford Try is focusing housebuilding resources on the market in the south of England, where demand is strong. In Scotland activity is limited to a small number of sites.

Mr Gillespie said turnover at the construction arm in Scotland was up slightly last year on the £200 million annual average recorded over the past five years. Staff numbers increased by 20% annually to around 1000.

The group increased pre-tax profits by 80% in the year to June, to £63.1m, from £35.1m in the preceding year, helped by strong growth in housebuilding profits.

Galliford Try is part of the consortium building the Forth Replacement Crossing, and it is also working on the £300m 10-year framework for the Scottish South East hub project to deliver community facilities and is an investor in the hub's Public Private Partnership.

It belongs to the consortium that has been appointed preferred bidder for the £500m South West hub.