Britain has a long-term housing shortage, especially in southern England, and Prime Minister Theresa May in October promised a further 10 billion pounds to Help to Buy, a programme that subsidises new construction.

Galliford said the order book at its partnerships and regeneration business -- which operates as a developer and contractor in the affordable housing sector -- rose to 1.3 billion pounds in the period from July 1 to Nov. 6, from 873 million a year ago.

It said government announcements had provided increased certainty to its clients to bring forward investment in that business,

It also said it continued to see good market conditions across all its businesses.

(Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru; editing by John Stonestreet)