Inside Lambe's record £215 million order book
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M Lambe Construction's order book stands at £215 million as of June 2026, up £35 million since March 2025 and the largest in Lambe’s 43-year history.
87% of Lambe’s pipeline is secured work with long-term clients, reflecting the strength of our relationships and confidence in our ability to deliver.
Why affordable housing represents 55% of our order book
In 2024, we set a goal to achieve an order book consisting of 50% affordable housing. At the time, affordable housing and pre-sold sites made up around 33% of our order book. Today, that figure is 55%, meaning the majority of our work is less exposed to fluctuations in consumer confidence.
Increasing the proportion of affordable projects in our order book provides greater stability for our clients, suppliers, and workforce.
Michael Lambe, CEO, said:
“We deliberately target sites delivering quality, affordable homes for the communities we work in. This approach aligns well with our values and gives us greater pipeline certainty against a backdrop of rising material costs and lower consumer confidence.
This is how we protect jobs and maintain consistent delivery for our clients, in turn allowing us to keep investing in our people over the long term.”
Phil McHugh, Executive Chair, Yorkshire, North Midlands and West Division, has been a client of ours for more than 13 years. He recently shared honest feedback on working with Lambe’s directly with our wider team — one example of how we listen to clients, share feedback openly across the business and use it to keep improving.
How Lambe's pre-construction approach reduces commercial risk
We help our housebuilding clients get the most value from every site by identifying risks and opportunities upfront. Being transparent also allows us to offer confident, competitive pricing while protecting our ability to deliver on our promises.
By ensuring that Lambe’s and our clients have a thorough understanding of the site up front, we set everyone up for successful programme delivery. That can mean highlighting missing or ambiguous information in the tender pack, clarifying what we’ve allowed for and why, and advising on sequencing to minimise avoidable costs and programme delays.
Vince Dillon, Pre‑Construction Director, said:
“Clients use us to find the problems in the pack before we start. I spend my time looking for risks and opportunities in a site, and we share what we find openly. If we haven’t allowed for something, we say so. It removes ambiguity and gives our clients the best price.”
How Lambe's site standards reduce reputational risk
Our relationships with clients are the strongest they have been in 20 years, because of the standards we are delivering on site.
Since 2024, we have been raising the bar for the presentation, safety and quality standards we expect to deliver. Over the past 12 months, we've been even more disciplined in applying those standards to every job, and we’re seeing that reflected in stronger client feedback and more repeat work.
Kane Gibbons, Managing Director, said:
“We’ve set a high bar for our site standards, and now we have the processes in place to make them stick. Our management teams are out on site making sure we’re getting quality, presentation and safety right. As a result, we're winning more repeat work, and in locations we wouldn't have considered just a few years ago, including Mansfield, Chesterfield and Leicester.”
In a challenging market, we are strategic about the work we take on, providing greater certainty around costs and site standards.
That's how we secure the long-term health of the business and the jobs it provides. It also means we can keep investing in mental health and homelessness projects through the Christy Lambe Foundation and our recruitment partnership with Standing Tall.
