Contracts update

Cheshire-based firm APE Project Management has been appointed to act as QS and project manager on a £10m new phase at the Birchwood Park development. The phase includes two three-storey office blocks. Main contractor on the scheme is Rok.

Davis Langdon has been appointed technical advisor for the funders of a Building Schools for the future project in Newcastle, which involves building or refurbishing 16 new schools.

Gardiner & Theobald is acting as cost manager on a regeneration scheme planned for Albion Quayside in Garvesend, Kent. Over 860 houses are planned for the 13.5 acre site next to the River Thames. The firm is working with architect Kiran Curtis Architects on the plans. G&T's Dubai office has also won a cost consultancy role on the $270m Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company new exhibition and conference centre. The complex will include 57,000 m² of exhibition space, 7,500 m² of multi purpose halls and 21,000 m² of visitor concourse. The centrepiece will be a 35-storey tower that will curve above the centre to look out to the sea. The architect is RMJM.

Hill International is project managing two towers within Dubai's upcoming International Financial Centre. The $450m (£240m) development for Daman Real Estate Capital Partners is mixed use. One tower will be a 64-storey residential and hotel block and the other will be a 14-storey office and retail building. The project broke ground in December 2005 and is expected to finish at the end of 2008.

Lend Lease Projects has been hired by Anglia Ruskin University to project manage the construction of a £14m faculty building at the edge of Chelmsford, Essex. The 6,000 m² development will house facilities for the faculties of arts, law, social sciences, science an technology and education. The scheme is being procured under a design and build contract. It is due to start on site in March 2007 and finish in July 2008.

EC Harris is working on a project aimed at piloting the NEC contract in Hong Kong. The firm is advising the Drainage Service Department of Hong Kong on applying the contract to a project to build a water pumping facility, the Sheung Wan Stormwater Pumping Station.

Franklin + Andrews has been appointed by Network Rail to deliver QSing and commercial management services on the station development programme for the West. The reinvestment programme will revamp stations including Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Newport and Swindon. F+A has been working with Network Rail since the 1990s.