When money is tight, experienced clients are like gold dust and here we have some of the very best - but this year the accolade goes to Crossrail for the sheer scale of its ambitions

Construction Client of the year

Sponsored by Mott MacDonald

Crossrail

Crossrail is the biggest engineering project in Europe, forming a major part of the mayor’s Transport Strategy for London. When it opens in 2018, Crossrail will connect 37 stations, including Heathrow airport and Maidenhead in the west with Canary Wharf, Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east. Large-scale stations will be built along the central route of the line at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Canary Wharf. As well as making travelling easier and quicker, the new Crossrail service will help to reduce crowding on London’s transport network with each train carrying up to 1,500 passengers. The project is a key part of London’s plan for growth over the years ahead and will encourage regeneration and social inclusion, creating thousands of job opportunities. Crossrail has provided a much needed boost to the UK construction industry with an estimated benefit of £42bn to the UK economy.

Runners-up

BAA

BAA’s construction of Heathrow’s new terminal 2 is thought to create 35,000 job opportunities over the course of the project. The £2.2bn development is the UK’s largest privately funded construction project and will open to passengers in 2014.

Imperial College London

The Capital Projects and Planning Division at Imperial College is responsible for about 100 projects a year, ranging from simple refurbishments to highly complex building developments. The college is on target to reduce carbon emissions by 34% by 2020.

The Open University

The Open University, nominated by Ridge, embarked on a three-year mission back in 2008 to deliver five projects with a total value of £25m. The projects included a refurbishment of the catering facility “The Hub”, several office blocks and an estates management building.

Oxford University Estate Directorate

The University’s policy is to build sustainable buildings, an example of which is the biochemistry building with its glass roof and integrated PV panels providing shading as well as contributing to the building’s energy needs.

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