In Focus: The Latest UK Construction Industry News, August 2006

HBG awarded £100m Welsh hospital contract

HBG Construction has scooped two hospital schemes in Wales, one project being the 276 bed Caerphilly Local General Hospital in Ystrad Fawr valuing £78.6m. The other project is the 107 bed Blaenau Gwent Local General Hospital which values £25.2m.

Edmund Nuttall wins £85m busway in Cambridgeshire

An £85m guided busway contract has been awarded by Cambridgeshire County Council to Edmund Nuttall. The project involves the construction of 24km of concrete guideway.

BAM group top of the class for West Midlands school project

The BAM PPP group beat off all remaining contenders to win the £74m contract as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme. HBG – one company owned by BAM, will carry out the works which involve the rebuilding of 4 schools starting next March.

Amec group to carry out £120m Scottish schools scheme

The Amec-led Inspired Consortium has won a contract involving the reconstruction of 6 schools in East Dunbartonshire. Works are due to start towards the end of this year or in early 2007.

Four names shortlisted for Olympic delivery partner

The four remaining bidders for the role are now making their final presentations to win the £5.2bn project. The four names include:

• The Legacy consortium – comprised of Bovis Lend Lease, Capita Symonds and KBR.
• Laing O’Rourke, Mace, CH2M and Davis Langdon.
• The G3 consortium – comprising Amec, Balfour Beatty, Jacobs, Gleeds and Faithful & Gould.
• Bechtel – the only single company to enter the race, and the favourite.

The current favourite to win (and indeed the favourite from the start) is American contractor Bechtel, with its size, status and the fact that it is entering as a single entity in its favour. The reasoning is that dealing with a single huge company will be less complicated to deal with, making for more efficient management. However some hold the view that the works for the 2012 Olympics should remain firmly in British hands and that an American company being awarded the contract would send out a negative message about the UK’s own industry.

Skanska set to be crowned winners in London office block bid

Inside sources expect a deal on the project by the middle of September. The project is known as 30 Crown Place, is due to begin October this year and finish in September 2008 and has a value of around £60m. Two towers are to be built as part of the development, a 16 storey office tower and an 8 storey tower housing other facilities. Demolition work has already begun on site.

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