Three top contractors bag £500m London roads deal

Three heavyweight contractors have won places on a £500m framework to deliver road upgrade works across London.

Transport for London (TfL) has signed the deal with Costain, Morgan Sindall and Skanska to design and build some of its more complex and large scale jobs to improve the capital’s road network.

The framework will focus on a range of projects to improve highways, reduce dangers on the roads, improve journey reliability and encourage cycling and walking. It will run for four years, with the option to extend it for a further two.

Schemes likely to be delivered under the framework include the proposed Fiveways upgrade scheme in Croydon, the removal of Vauxhall’s gyratory and improvements to the A40 Westway.

Costain’s win comes as the contractor issued a trading update to the City ahead of its 2016 results being published in March.

The firm said it had secured over £1.2bn of revenue for this year, while its order book remained at a record level of £3.9bn.

Major wins chalked up in the second half of last year included a £300m enabling works contract on HS2, a £113m deal to upgrade gas compressor stations and a major maintenance deal with Highways England.

Costain also grew its consultancy side, with the division’s headcount increasing to 1,200. The firm overall employed 4,100 staff at the end of 2016.

The firm said it expects to deliver full-year results in line with expectations.

Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie said: “Costain has had another strong year. Our customers are undertaking substantial investment addressing urgent national needs and we are looking forward to the future with confidence.”