CJ50 Market data: September's fall

PDF of market data September 2006

Balfour Beatty spent its second month at the top of the CJ50 table in September, with by far the biggest total of the month: its forward orders reached nearly £369m.

It was otherwise a fairly quiet month, with the overall total down more than £650m on August’s figures, and nearly £300m compared with September 2005. Only the public sector was busier than in August, with the rest all seeing a drop in business. Apart from the number one spot, the rest of the top 10 saw some significant reshuffling, including three new entries.

Balfour boasted by far the largest number of contracts, at 54, but the bulk of its haul came from just one. The seven-year contract, with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), is worth around £320m and means Balfour’s subsidiary Haden Building Management will provide a comprehensive range of office support services nationwide. There is also an option to extend the contract by a further three years.

The contract is expected to begin on 1 March 2007, following a period of planning and preparation to ensure a smooth transfer from the DWP’s current arrangements, which involve a range of both internal and external service providers.

Bovis Lend Lease climbed four places to second, thanks to just four contracts with a total value of £135m. These were: a contract worth £49m to build a factory in Pontefract for Cadbury Schweppes; a £30m job for Retail Property Holdings in Glasgow; £30m of work for Southampton University; and £26m of schools work for South Lanarkshire Council, part of a £100m framework deal that involves building 20 new schools in the area.

Laing O’Rourke was steady in third place. Its largest declared win was a £65m development at London’s St Pancras station for property group Manhattan Loft Corporation. This will involve the construction of 68 luxury apartments and is part of a wider scheme that also involves redeveloping part of the Gothic station building as a Marriott-run hotel.

The contractor also won a £40m contract with Ocean Village Resorts to build a hotel in Southampton.

Norwest Holst soared 10 places to fourth thanks to parent company Vinci, which has formed a consortium called VSM Estates with St Modwen Properties to redevelop RAF Northolt in Middlesex as part of a £150m investment programme. Norwest Holst has been awarded the £106.5m construction contract to build 24 new facilities, including living, social, health and sports accommodation for the existing personnel at RAF Northolt and those that are to be relocated from other Ministry of Defence sites in Greater London.

Taylor Woodrow was the highest-placed new entrant at five, with a spread of 11 contracts across the public, civils and housing sectors. This included a £50m warehouse development in Livingston for Santon Group Developments.

Kier climbed a place to sixth, boasting 40 contracts worth close to £98m, mostly in the commercial and public sectors. This helped push it up a place in the 12-month rolling table, to fourth position.

Shepherd was a new entrant in seventh place with just three sizeable contracts. These included a second contract worth more than £23m for the next phase of work at St Paul’s Square in the centre of Liverpool, on behalf of English Cities Fund, a joint venture between Amec, English Partnership and Legal & General. It has five regeneration projects under development around the UK, and St Paul’s Square is the first to be built. The new 17,000m², eight-storey office block will feature a glass facade and faceted glass bridge and canopy.

Down six places to eighth was Morgan Sindall, whose infrastructure services arm Morgan Est has been awarded a £28m project to build the new 5.4km Dalkeith bypass for Transport Scotland. The single carriageway road will combine a new junction on the A720 Edinburgh City bypass east of Sheriffhall, with the A68 to the south of the town.

Up a place to ninth was Rok, with nearly £70m of work. The contractor’s largest housing contract is for Plus Housing Group in Manchester, and is worth £15m.

New in 10th position was Durkan, with 16 projects announced in the housing, public and commercial sectors.