In Focus: Latest UK Construction Industry News, October 2006

Posted by Steve Thomas on Saturday, October 7, 2006

Mace looks set to bag London’s £350m Shard project

Recent information suggests that Mace is in the lead in the race for the role of construction manager on the £350 million scheme, with only Laing O’Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine still in the running for the contract. The Shard is expected to be completed in 2010, when it will become the tallest building in Europe, standing at 310m tall. WSP have already been chosen for the structural engineer role on the project.

Amec wins £60m Suffolk College contract

Amec have been contracted to perform a full redevelopment of Suffolk College in Ipswich. The project, set to last 18 months, involves demolition of the current building followed by construction of a new one with up to 4 storeys and spanning around 22,000m2. Works on the first stage of the project are due to start in January 2007.

Wilmott Dixon awarded £60m prisons job

A 5 year contract has been signed by Wilmott Dixon that will bring them as much as £60 million of work. The project will begin in November 2007 with construction of a new block at HMP Swaleside in Kent, followed shortly after by a 510-place block at HMP Nottingham.

Norwest Holst bag Middlesex university project

The scheme involves the construction of a £60 million accommodation block at Brunel University’s Uxbridge site. The works are phase 6 of a £250 million redevelopment programme to replace much of the site’s ageing blocks with more modern accommodation that can house more than twice the number of students.

Amec come top of the class on £85m education contracts

Amec have been awarded a pair of education projects with a value totalling £85 million. One project is the rebuilding of Hertford Regional College’s Broxbourne and Ware campuses, worth £50m, the second contract is a £35m redevelopment of Suffolk College in Ipswich.

Northolt defence contract awarded to Norwest Holst

The Ministry of Defence has awarded Norwest Holst a £106.5 million contract to build 24 new structures at RAF Northolt, Middlesex. This project is part of a larger scheme under way to consolidate and redevelop various Ministry of Defence sites surrounding London.

Alfred McAlpine wins over £120 million worth of contracts

Alfred McAlpine has had a series of successes in bidding for contracts across the country. The largest of these is a £40 million utilities project on Edinburgh’s tram service, involving extensive utility diversion works starting next spring. Second in size is a £26 million project to build a new healthcare centre in Aldershot, Hampshire. Also in the bag are; an £18m scheme to build a new hotel in Smithfield, Manchester, a £10m contract to upgrade the A470 in north Wales and a £15m project to improve communications infrastructure along a stretch of the M4 between junctions 14 and 18.

Six groups contracted for £2 billion National Grid scheme

Six have emerged as the preferred bidders on a massive scheme to upgrade the UK’s electricity network. The scheme, worth nearly £2 billion in total, is in two parts; construction and refurbishment of substations, and overhead transmission line works. Four groups are contracted for the substation package, they include:

  • ABB/Morgan Est/Atkins
  • Areva/Skanska/Mott MacDonald
  • Mitsubishi/Morrison/Jacobs
  • Siemens/Parsons Brickerhoff Power/Murphy

And the two companies performing the overhead line works are Amec and Balfour Beatty, each handling the West and East of the country respectively. Contracts are expected to be formalised and signed in January 2007, with works due to begin not long after.

Miller wins pair of college contracts worth £70m

The first project is a £37 million development on Jewel and Esk Valley College in Edinburgh which will see a new campus built on the outskirts of the city along with a large redevelopment of the existing Milton Road East campus. Works are expected to be completed on both parts of the project by early 2010. The second contract is for a £33 million project in Dumfries, which involves the construction of what has been dubbed a “super-campus”, providing both Further and Higher Education courses in the same facility. This facility is due to open in August 2008.

Balfour Beatty & Carillion joint venture awarded London tube project

The East London tube line is due to be extended in a huge £363 million scheme. The works will cover the area between Dalston in the north to west Croydon in the south. Balfour Beatty and Carillion beat off several other major competitors to be awarded the contract. The works’ starting date is as yet unconfirmed.