Three contractors are vying to build the UK’s tallest residential tower in south London.

Laing O’Rourke, Skanska and Multiplex are competing for the fixed price £70m 49-storey tower in Vauxhall, which is designed by architect Broadway Malyan. The developer is St George, part of the Berkeley Group.

The firms are due to put in bids to the QS on the project, Mace arm Sense, next month.

Bidding for the 180 m scheme comes three years after the project was first submitted for planning, on the south-west edge of the St George Wharf development.

The scheme had been thrown out by Lambeth council at the end of last year, despite gaining the backing of London mayor Ken Livingstone. The council had objected because it allocated only 40% of the development for social housing rather than the recommended 50%.

St George appealed in the summer and is currently awaiting a decision from the ODPM.

The tower promises to use a third of the energy of comparable buildings because of a wind turbine on the top of the building that will generate power for lights, and high-tech pumps designed to harness heat from underground water sources.

The project team also includes services engineer Roger Preston & Partners and planning consultant Barton Willmore.

Postscript

Contractor InteriorExterior has won the £65m fit-out contract of the London Spitalfields Market office development in the City for law firm Allen & Overy. The firm beat off bids from Bovis Lend Lease and Canary Wharf Contractors to win the scheme, designed by Pringle Brandon.