Laing O’Rourke and Costain have won a £40m contract to prepare Farringdon station in central London for the coming of Crossrail

A joint venture between the two is already carrying out work worth £77m at the site as part of the Thameslink upgrade.

Its work for Crossrail will include demolition of the Cardinal Tower, a sixties office block on Farringdon Road.

Andy Mitchell, Crossrail’s programme director, said: “They will also do some piling and permanent works for us, because if they didn’t it would be too difficult later.”

Tenders are due to go out for Crossrail’s works at Farringdon in November, with work due to start on site next year.