Balfour Beatty cements its dominance of UK contracting

Balfour Beatty romped back to the top of last month’s contractors’ league tables after sealing a £180m PFI deal to design and build the Victoria and Stobhill hospitals in Glasgow.

The green light for the scheme, which will be completed by 2009 for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, took the total for Balfour’s contract wins for August to £282m.

The other two big risers this month were Sir Robert McAlpine, which climbed from 12th to second place, and Galliford Try, which came in at number five after spending July outside the top 30.

Sir Robert McAlpine’s major deals included a £160m housing scheme in Highbury, north London, taking its total for the month to £218m. Galliford Try signed nine contracts worth a total of £98m, including a £28m school project at Leigh Academy in Dartford, Kent.

Balfour’s 53 contracts in August took it over the 1000 mark for the year; its 1002 deals added up to £3.8bn, which is £1.6bn ahead of Skanska.

When civils work for the month was included, Balfour Beatty knocked Skanska off the top spot. The Swedish firm slipped to 12th in this category. Morgan Sindall took its place thanks to 39 deals worth a total of £328m.

Carillion, which had been second in July, fell to 17th with deals totalling £42m.

The traditionally quiet month of August was busier than usual this year with contract wins for the top 50 totalling £2.6bn, up from £2.1bn in July. The commercial sector drove building work overall in August, awarding £885m of contracts. The civils sector was responsible for £702m of deals, with the public sector contributing £654m.

There was an eerie sense of stillness among the clients and consultants, with most of the main players maintaining their places from last month. What notable changes there were included the appearance of US practice Kohn Pedersen Fox at number seven in the architects league and Gleed’s overtaking of Gardiner & Theobald among the QSs.