Sir Robert McAlpine tops UK contractor list

Sir Robert McAlpine headed the list of top UK contractors in May, according to a Building magazine poll compile by Barbour ABI, having landed the £400m deal to build the 80,000-seater Olympic stadium. It also won a £30.5m contracts as part of the Gateshead MetroCentre revamp.

HBG took second place, up from third last month, thanks to a £300m deal with the Bro Morgannwg NHS trust for a hospital in Swansea, plus a £17m hospital deal in Durham. Third place went to Kier, which recorded an impressive 23 contract wins worth a total £195.1m, taking it up three places from April.

Bovis Lend Lease jumped from 12th to 4th place on the back of a £73m, 11-storey New Court office scheme in the City of London.Not to be out-gunned, Balfour Beatty reported the most project wins in May - 67 worth a total £131.6m. And Morgan Sindall took the sixth spot with projects including a 22.3m housing deal with Telford and Wrekin council.

Overall there were signs that the credit crunch was affecting order books, however, with only 44 companies sending responses to the survey, compared to the usual 55.