The St Pancras International Station project, refurbishment of King's Cross and the all-new Tube station at Wood Lane for the Westfield shopping mall are delivering record results for Costain.

"This company has never been so busy," said chief executive Andrew Wylie, unveiling an order book up 25% at £2 billion.

It includes the transforming of Farringdon station into a key interchange linking the Tube, Thameslink rail service and new Crossrail line.

"Public spending is not going to stop," Wylie said. "There will be continued big strategic infrastructure investment, which is where our civil engineering business is focused, and continued spending in health and education, which is where our building business is focused.

"Around 83% of our business, a very high majority, is focused on public-sector or regulated-sector spending."

Costain was a debt-laden dog of the construction sector in the 1990s.

Its transformation in the past few years has delivered that record order book, a 17% increase in 2008 profits to £23 million and a 50% crank-up in the dividend to 0.75p.

While its civil business grew 40%, the gloss was taken off the results by problems in its building division.

Slack management and cost overruns on projects in housebuilding sent the building division to a £5.2 million loss after a small profit in the prior year.

"We had operational issues," said Wylie. "They have been fixed."