Contractor beats off Interior/Exterior bid for Manchester offices

Bovis Lend Lease has been picked to build two £40m Foster and Partners-designed office blocks in Manchester's Spinningfields estate, Building.co.uk can reveal.

The firm beat off a bid from Interior/Exterior this week to secure the schemes from client, developer Allied London. The two contractors had been expecting a decision for most of January on the winning bid. A source at one said: "It was neck and neck for some time between us two. They were both very strong bids."

The two blocks, number three and four Hardman Square, are part of the overall 8.9 hectare Spinningfields estate. They are two of four Foster and Partner-designed jobs for Hardman Square, one of which is expected to be a 35-storey tower.

The Spinningfields esate also includes another Bovis job, the Denton Corker Marshall-designed £108m Civil Justice Centre PFI, which started on site last Spring.