Laing O’Rourke likely to win theatre revamp

Laing O’Rourke is on the verge of playing a one-man show on a £30m-plus theatre revamp deal in West Yorkshire. The contractor was the only one of an original cast of seven to follow through with its bid for the major refurbishment of the Leeds Grand Theatre (CJ 2 February).

Despite this, it is understood that the city council has named the solo act as its preferred bidder for the scheme. An insider said: “The council has sought advice and the understanding is that the client is not contravening EU procurement rules by doing this.”

The source continued: “The reasoning is that the council went through the correct competitive tender procedure and it’s not its fault that it was left with just one bid to choose from.”