Skanska tops league with bumper mixed-use scheme

Skanska powered to the top of the contract league table for March with a single £250m job.

The contractor signed on the dotted line last month to deliver Hill House, a 22-storey mixed-use block, which was enough to take it to the top of the leagues, according to construction data firm Glenigan.

Skanska will demolish the site above ground before developing 18 storeys in its place, plus lower-ground and upper-ground floors. It will also repurpose the existing basement, which will comprise two levels once complete.

The new site will include a gym, auditorium, library, cafe and retail space, plus a restaurant on the top. Developer Landsec said it will retain and reuse nearly 60 per cent of the existing building structure.

Landsec expects construction work to start next year, pending planning permission.

Meanwhile, McLaughlin & Harvey returned to the top 10 after it missed out last month. It took second spot in March thanks to five jobs. Its biggest was a £137m contract to build a biotech research site in Oxford.

The job will see McLaughlin & Harvey build a 210,000 square foot laboratory focusing on life sciences, which will also include office space. The site, called Trinity House and part of Oxford Business Park, will be net zero in construction and is earmarked to reach BREEAM’s Outstanding rating.

The client expects work to reach completion in the second half of next year.

It is McLaughlin & Harvey’s latest science job in Oxford, after it finished Oxford University’s Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine in 2022.

Winvic also made it back into the top 10 after its absence in February. Buoyed by an £82m job to build two warehouses at Panattoni Park’s site in Milton Keynes, the warehouse specialist took fourth spot.

The site, which gained planning permission last July, will include two warehouses covering a combined 73,500 square metres. Winvic has worked for Panattoni in the past, scooping an £80m job to build a warehouse at its Luton site back in 2019.

Multiplex also returned to the top 10 by pushing its way to fifth spot. Glenigan data shows that its only job lost month was a £150m contract to develop New Zealand House.

The project, which has obtained planning permission, will see the high commission and the adjacent Royal Opera Arcade “continue to meet the evolving needs” of the New Zealand government, according to client and property management company the Crown Estate.

Both of these listed buildings will be refurbished to improve their energy efficiency, although mechanical, electrical and plumbing subcontractor Watkins Payne said the facade and overall external appearance will be retained on the site.

Morgan Sindall comfortable at top of annual table

Morgan Sindall maintained its spot at the top of the rolling annual league table, after it scored 302 jobs in the year to March worth £2.31bn in total. That took it more than £800m ahead of its nearest competitor, Royal Bam, which rose one place. Bouygues took third spot with 44 jobs worth a total £1.35bn.

Mutliplex was fifth, up from ninth last month, with Skanska and Winvic ninth and tenth respectively, after neither made the top 10 annual league in February.