Major highways job puts Balfour Beatty top of the league

A £130m highways job in Surrey helped Balfour Beatty top the contractors’ league table last month, but Brookfield and Mace were among the biggest movers.

Balfour Beatty topped the contractors’ league table, including civils, after securing a £130m contract with the Highways Agency to convert part of the M3 in Surrey and Hampshire to a “smart motorway”.

Balfour Beatty’s £257m contract haul across 16 contracts also included a £55m job to refurbish the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities building at De Montfort University in Leicester.

Brookfield topped the league table excluding civils, with a £200m haul across seven contracts.

The firm’s wins included a £40m job to redevelop the landmark 48 Leicester Square building in central London for client Linseed Assets as well as a £40m four-storey office scheme in Aberdeen for HFD Group.

Mace moved from 27th spot last month into third in the league table excluding civils, with the firm’s £131m contract haul bolstered by the £125m contract to revamp the One Angel Square tower in the City of London.

Overall the CPA/Barbour ABI construction index dropped to 128 in July, down from 133 the previous month - a fall of 4% - but still up 17% on the previous year.

The index, compiled by the Construction Products Association (CPA) using data from construction information provider Barbour ABI, measures contract awards and uses a January 2010 base of 100.

Noble Francis, CPA director, said the fall demonstrated that “recovery is never a straight line upwards” and that there is always some “volatility” within an upward trend.

You’ll find interactive, sortable league tables of contract wins here: building.co.uk/barometer