Spotlight on London projects

Up to six contractors will be required to help build the £5bn Greenwich Peninsula, according to project developers Lend Lease and Quintain. Current first-phase contractor Bovis Lend Lease had been expected to grab the lion's share of the second phase, but now it's unlikely to be involved, reported Building. Capacity shortages may have made it difficult to find a main contractor to oversee the scheme.

Financial problems are thought to blame for Heron Properties' decision to replace consultant Davis Langdon with EC Harris on the £100m Milton Place residential tower at the Barbican. A review of cost management by Heron probably prompted the change after it asked the cost manager to take on a wider role after recent market turbulence, reported Building.

There was union anger following the disappointing opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 last week, said Contract Journal. Frank Westerman, regional officer of union Unite said: 'It really has taken the gloss off ... This was a £4bn plus project with thousands of workers. It had been tested for more than six months.' But positive news came from an independent report into M&E work on T5, which hailed the construction a resounding success.

Construction News (CN) leads with reports that two major London office schemes have been put on hold due to financial market woes. A £250m project to build a new HQ for JP Morgan near London Wall in the city is now thought unlikely to go ahead and developer Beetham's £350m Trinity office scheme in Aldgate has been put on hold despite gaining planning permission in January.

In more positive news, CN reports that Skanska beat off stiff competition to clinch the £63m Thameslink viaduct at Borough in south London. Main works on the new viaduct, parallel to the existing one, are scheduled to start in January 2009.

Finally, competition is hotting up for the £16bn Crossrail project, with several firms planning to bid alongside Bechtel for delivery works. The US contractor had been tipped to win the job, but now Parsons Brinckerhoff, Arup, Balfour Beatty and C2MHill all plan to tender.