Work on Tate neighbour goes ahead

Contractor ISG InteriorExterior is being tipped to win a contract to build the residential project in Hopton Street, Southwark. Work is due to start in the first quarter of this year and completion is expected in 2008. The total development cost is expected to be £40m.

ISG is believed to have beaten off competition from rivals Mace and Laing O'Rourke to win the fixed-price contract. The project team includes QS AYH, project manager Second London Wall and architect Hamilton Associates.

The award of the contract follows a tortuous period endured by the then developer, London Town, to achieve planning permission. The client first submitted the scheme as a 32-storey block for planning in June 2001, but local residents group, the Bankside Residents for Appropriate Development (BROAD), consistently opposed the plan. The group took its case to the High Court, the House of Lords and finally the European Court of Human Rights, arguing the tower would reduce the value of their homes by up to £50,000.

London Town sold the scheme to Meyer Bergman, previously part of Dutch developer MAB, for £10.8m last January. The firm would not comment on the choice of contractor.

• Gardiner & Theobald is working on a major £70m refurbishment of Morgan Stanley's premises in Canary Wharf. The scheme, at 25 Cabot Square, is currently being bid by contractors that are believed to include Bovis Lend Lease, Overbury and ISG InteriorExterior. The client is project managing the scheme.