SRM replaces Carillion as favourite to pick up Battersea job

Sir Robert McAlpine has replaced Carillion as the frontrunner to take on the third phase of the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station.

A source close to the project told Building that Sir Robert McAlpine was now the “preferred contractor” to take over from Bouygues, which Building revealed in March had agreed to walk away from the job.

It is understood McAlpine will likely take on a construction manager role on the Foster + Partners and Frank Gehry-designed, residential-led third phase of the development, situated to the south of the power station.

The third phase of the development has been split in two with flats in Phase 3a already launched for sale, while Phase 3b, which includes the Gehry-designed “Flower Building”, is still to hit the market.

The source added that McAlpine could have a “highly-experienced team” move on to the job after completing Bloomberg’s new headquarters in the City of London.

McAlpine’s parent company Newarthill recorded its third straight pre-tax loss last month after a £53.4m exceptional writedown connected with reassessing the firm’s pension liabilities.

However, the firm recorded an underlying pre-tax profit of £10.2m, after finishing a several loss-making problem jobs.

Sir Robert McAlpine completed all these jobs during the financial year and had incurred “all of the substantial costs”, the accounts said.

The contractor has also been without a boss since a chief executive since last July, when Tony Aikenhead suddenly stepped down from the role after less than a year.

Earlier this year the contractor lost the race to build Google’s new King Cross headquarters to Lendlease.

Fellow contractor Skanska, which lost its London and South East building boss Paul Heather to McAlpine last autumn, is on site as the construction manager for the preliminary and early works for Phase two and is the preferred bidder for the second phase at Battersea Power station which includes Apple’s new London base, while Carillion is finishing the first residential phase to the west of the site.

The Battersea Power Station Development Company and Sir Robert McAlpine have been contacted for comment.