A40 scoop puts Costain top of the roads league

Costain has added another scalp to its rapidly increasing array of road contract trophies. The latest scoop is the A40 Penblewin Roundabout to Sleb-ach Park Improvement in south Wales, valued at up to £30m.

Costain beat Carillion, Morrison, Mowlem and Nuttall to win the Welsh Assembly ECI deal.

The win comes hot on the heels of victories on the £56.7m Holmesdale Tunnel contract, the £130m-plus A2/A282 Dartford improvement/M25 widening in Kent and, in joint venture with Mowlem, one of the Highways Agency’s (HA) biggest-ever projects – the £430m M1 widening between junctions 10 and 13.

An industry source said: "Costain is currently top of the Capability Assessment Toolkit league tables, which could go a long way to explaining why it has clocked up three recent wins on HA schemes.

"But the latest win is for the Welsh Assembly, which doesn’t use the CAT system, although it could have been influenced by it."

He continued: "I think that alongside the CAT ratings, there’s another reason why Costain is currently riding high.

"For at least the past 18 months, the firm has made a concerted effort to win work after going through a fallow period. It’s taken on extra staff and developed a long-term business strategy, which seems to be paying off."

One of Costain’s rivals for the A40 deal said: "A little while back, it was the likes of Alfred McAlpine and Balfour Beatty we had to watch out for – now it looks as if it’s Costain."

Work on site on the A40 scheme is expected to start in around 18 months’ time, with completion due within two years. The task is to construct about 10km of single carriageway, including climbing lanes and associated structures.