Tottenham Hotspur shortlists four contractors for stadium

Tottenham Hotspur football club has shortlisted four contractors to build its state-of-the art £400m stadium.

Sir Robert McAlpine, Bouygues, Balfour Beatty and Laing O’Rourke have been approached by Spurs about building the 58,000-seat stadium, Spurs’ project director for the stadium Paul Phillips has told Building.

Phillips said a tender process for the job would begin once the club has secured all the land necessary for the project.

Sources close to the project have tipped Sir Robert McAlpine - which built the Emirates Stadium for Spurs’ fierce rivals Arsenal, and the London 2012 Olympic Stadium - for the prestigious job, but Phillips denied there was a frontrunner.

He said: “Sir Robert McAlpine will be on anyone’s shortlist for a stadium, but to say they are lined up is totally incorrect.”

Spurs’ efforts to amass the land for the project moved a step closer last week when the High Court rejected an appeal by local landowner Archway Sheet Metal Works against a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for its site, which stands in the way of the planned stadium.

But Phillips cautioned Archway could appeal again to the Court of Appeal, and said the planned tender process would wait until this legal process had come to a conclusion.

He said: “We’re not able yet to go out to tender. I wouldn’t be credible as a client without the land confirmed, particularly as contractors are picking and choosing what they bid for.” One source close to the project suggested the construction contract would be worth between £275m-£300m. Phillips declined to comment on the potential contract value.

The legal wranglings with Archway Sheet Metal Works over the CPO have already forced Spurs to delay its move to its new stadium to the 2018-19 season, rather than the 2017-18 season.

The project team includes architect Populous, engineer Buro Happold and cost consultant EC Harris.