Carillion, Laing O'Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine up for £193m library contract

Carillion, Laing O’Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine have been shortlisted to build a new £193m library in Birmingham.

The three companies will be asked to submit a tender by August 1 to build the library in Centenary Square in Birmingham’s city centre.

The successful bidder is expected to be announced by the end of the year, with the library to open in 2013.

It will replace the Central Library, once described by Prince Charles as looking like “a place where books are incinerated, not kept”.

Birmingham City Council is also recruiting a design team to work with the successful bidder.