Laing O'Rourke/Costain JV, Balfour and Taywood compete for Network Rail job

A joint venture of Laing O'Rourke and Costain has been shortlisted alongside Balfour Beatty and Taylor Woodrow for Network Rail's £125m King's Cross Western Concourse contract.

The contract is the central element of Network Rail's £400m King's Cross redevelopment programme. It involves extending the station to three times its current size, through the construction of a new glass and aluminium-roofed western concourse.

Work on the Western Concourse contract, known as Package 6, will begin in September this year and aims to be completed by April 2011.

The three groups are also expected to bid for the recently advertised £20m contract to deliver new platform improvement works aimed at increasing capacity (Package 3B) and a £28m shared service yard and plant room contract (Package 4).

The programme also includes a £6m package for a new public piazza outside the southern end of the station which will be larger than Leicester Square. Another £750,000 will also be spent on improvements to York Road.