Erith team wins £40m basement job at Cube

A team featuring Erith and Laing O’Rourke-owned Expanded has won the piling and enabling works contract at Sellar’s £850m Paddington Square development in west London.

The pair, who have also been joined by Morrisroe, beat remaining rival Coffey and Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering. Bids from Keltbray and a team led by Getjar fell earlier this month.

Sellar’s construction director Paul Flexney-Briscoe said: “In the end it came down to programme and logistics with Erith marginally ahead.”

Erith, which has been carrying out groundworks at the planned HS2 station at Old Oak Common in north-west London, has been carrying out a £6m demolition contract at the Paddington site since last year, tearing down the Royal Mail sorting office earmarked for the new building which has been designed by Shard architect Renzo Piano.

Known as the basement box, the piling and enabling works scheme, which has a £40m pricetag, will eventually be the new home of a ticket hall for the Bakerloo line station at Paddington along with retail.

Erith will start piling at the beginning of April and will work through to around June next year when Mace will formally start construction of the main Paddington Square building.

Last month the firm was appointed to the £350m main contract role on the job, beating Multiplex and Sir Robert McAlpine.

The 14-storey office block, which is also known as the Cube, is due to be completed by February 2022. Piano’s plans include retail and restaurant space along with a new public square.

Sellar has already appointed WSP to carry out engineering work, while Gardiner & Theobald is QS. G&T’s management services arm has been hired as the employer’s agent with Knight Frank and JLL tasked with finding tenants for the 360,000 sq ft office.