Camden council has approached contractor Carillion to pitch for a £30m PFI housing scheme after claims of insufficient competition for the contract.
Until earlier this summer, the north London refurbishment scheme had been a two-horse race between Bovis Lend Lease and the Partners for Improvement consortium. Bovis then pulled out in June, saying the project was too complex.

There were fears that the scheme might have to be relaunched to ensure a competitive process. A Partners for Improvement source said: "All that is clear is that there is now no competition for the scheme, which means the whole thing could be repackaged before tender prices are even submitted."

Camden hopes to persuade Carillion to pitch for the job for a second time – it withdrew its original bid after selling its housing division to Morgan Sindall. Carillion's private finance unit has since taken over its social housing bids.

A source close to the council said Camden was talking to several companies that had already unsuccessfully bid for the scheme.

The source added that Carillion was the favourite to rejoin the race, although it remains to be decided if the scheme has gone through enough layers of competition to satisfy procurement regulations.

The scheme is considered complex because it involves the refurbishment of five residential towers – most other PFI schemes involve only ground-level housing.