Tenders on £900m London towers job expected to be out in ‘next few weeks’

Bidders are expecting tenders for a huge towers scheme at Blackfriars to be issued in the next few weeks, Building understands.

The job at 18 Blackfriars, which will be one of the biggest to come up for grabs in London in the coming years, is set to be let as two-stage job with bidders being sent documents later this month.

One source said the work was being planned as a design and build contract “with a very long PCSA”.

Firms expected to bid include Multiplex while Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine are understood to have been pushing the client to let the job as a CM scheme. “I think it could be some sort of hybrid – a super long CM before going to D&B. I think there’s lots of discussions going on trying to decide what’s best.”

Worries have previously been expressed about letting the job, worth more than £900m, as a fixed-price from the start because of concerns over the level of financial risk firms would have to take on.

Lipton Rogers, the firm behind 22 Bishopsgate, is development manager on the project, which includes 100,000 sq m of office space and 433 homes, with others on the team so far including engineer Arup and QS T&T Alinea.

The job, designed by Foster & Partners, is being run by US developer Hines and will see the construction of a 45-storey office plus two residential buildings of 40 and 22 storeys all rising from a four-storey podium.

Enabling works are due to begin by the end of the year with main construction starting early next year. The entire scheme is expected to take four years to build.