Office fit-out job drives Morgan Sindall to top league spot

Morgan Sindall strode to top spot in the November league tables, largely thanks to a £130m fit-out job in the City of London.

The contractor’s fit-out arm Overbury scooped the £130m project on 2 Aldermanbury Square for international law firm Clifford Chance.

Along with a £100m science scheme in Manchester for the contractor’s construction arm, the job thrust Morgan Sindall into first spot in November, nearly £100m clear of its nearest rival.

In total, it scooped 16 jobs in November, worth a combined £352.8m, according to construction data provider Glenigan. With that, the UK’s second largest contractor did one better than it did in October, when it made second spot.

Overbury’s fit-out job at 2 Aldermanbury Square will enable the 97,500 square metre site to open as office space. Built by Bovis, the project achieved an Outstanding BREEAM rating and a 36 per cent reduction in embodied carbon compared with the original design.

The new science and innovation building, called Plus Ultra Manchester, is being built for Kadans Science Partner in the city’s knowledge quarter.

The project is set to complete at the beginning of 2028, and will be one of the biggest clinical academic campuses in Europe. It will be 100 per cent electric and is also targeting BREEAM Excellent rating.

Kier took the silver medal after a month out of the top 10. It signed on the dotted line three times in November, for a total £258.1m.

The firm’s biggest contract of the month was a £245.7m job under the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) Contingency Response Programme (CRP). Kier scooped package three of the CRP, which forms part of the MoJ’s wider strategy to deliver 20,000 additional prison places and maintain its existing estate.

Construction News revealed in August that the MoJ had put aside £1.1bn for the CRP, covering work on 32 prisons and courts across the UK.

Third-placed Mace also bounced back into the top 10. Last month it was confirmed as main contractor on a £200m project to deliver a 19-storey office development above the canalside entrance to Paddington station, according to data intelligence provider Glenigan.

It was named the preferred bidder on the scheme in July, as reported by CN.

The project comprises 21,830 square metres of office space and is scheduled to complete in the third quarter of 2028. Mace’s appointment comes a full decade after the project got the green light.

Bowmer & Kirkland also launched back into the top 10 ─ it was out for two months but back in at fifth place in November.

It totted up five contracts worth a total £137m last month, buoyed by a £68.6m project to build Reach Academy in Feltham, according to Glenigan.

The school, for pupils between 2 and 18 years old, will have 1,480 pupils, and is aiming for an onsite carbon reduction of more than three quarters.

The new school will be built on an existing Ministry of Defence site, where the buildings will be demolished.

Willmott Dixon took ninth spot with 11 jobs worth £129.1m ─ again after spending a month outside the top 10. Its biggest contract win, worth £38m, was to revamp Outwood Academy Kirkby in Nottinghamshire.

The contractor said the “comprehensive redevelopment” will replace the 1970s-era school with a new site accommodating 900 pupils and a sixth form.

The Department for Education is the client on the site, which will be powered by air source heat pumps and solar panels to cut costs.

Work is set to start early next year, and construction is scheduled for completion in 2029.

Strabag maintained its spot atop the annual league for the fourth month running, with six jobs worth almost £3bn. The vast majority of that work ─ £2.9bn ─ was in the civils sector with a job to upgrade the Haweswater Aqueduct.

That left it £320m ahead of its nearest competitor Kier.

Along with its top spot in the monthly league, Morgan Sindall moved up one place to third in the annual table. The firm scored 253 projects in the past year, worth £2.43bn.

The only new entrant to the rolling annual table was Bovis, which entered the top 10 after missing out last month. It signed on the dotted line nine times over the 12 months to November, with contracts worth £1.11bn in total.