The Bamber Bridge-headquartered group behind construction business Conlon has seen its turnover rise past £55m with executive chairman Michael Conlon saying that revenues have been boosted by several larger projects including work on a major hospital building.

Conlon Holdings has posted a turnover of £55.3m in the year ending 30 April 2016 according to its latest set of accounts, up by 27 per cent on a year earlier. Of this, £54.3m came from the construction sector.

Pre-tax profits climbed by 154 per cent to £4.1m over the same period.

Conlon (pictured above) said: “Mostly that turnover growth was due to some larger projects that came in, including a £15m hospital building (pictured top) at Ashford in Kent and lots of work through the Education Funding Agency. This is part of a long-term strategy that we have to get and stay on frameworks.

“We’re lucky enough to be the only SME on the Education Funding Agency framework, which has been very good for the business in terms of turnover and helping us gain further specialisms in education.

“The current financial year has been going very well too. We’re on target for £50m+ again this year.”

Conlon, which also won the contract to work on the iconic Preston Bus Station, was founded by five Conlon brothers in 1961.

Meanwhile, Conlon Construction has begun working on a ground-breaking £40 million Hertfordshire hospital.

The firm has kicked off the 65 week project for the new private hospital in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

The two storey facility is being built on a four acre site close to the University of Hertfordshire’s College Lane Campus. It has been commissioned by One Healthcare and was designed by Manning Elliott.

The hospital will have spaces for 21 beds, three of which will be designated for critical care three ultra clean ventilation (UCV) theatres, 14 day-case pods, two treatment rooms and 10 outpatient consulting rooms.