Costain has won a £60m contract for the Diamond Synchrotron laboratory, the largest to be built in the UK for 30 years.
The firm, which confirmed the appointment to the stock exchange this week, beat off Taylor Woodrow. Building revealed last month that the two contractors were fighting it out for the project, commissioned by client Diamond Light Source.

The facility, to be built on the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory site near Chilton in Oxfordshire, will produce pinpoint ultraviolet and x-ray beams for use in cancer research.

The doughnut-shaped building, which will contain a giant microscope, was designed by Jacobs Gibb and the team includes project manager Symonds. Construction will start in October with completion due in 2005.

  • Costain, in a joint venture with shareholder Kharafihas, has been awarded an £18m water contract in Botswana. The Palapye Village sanitation project, for Botswana's Department of Water Affairs, involves the design and construction of pumping and sewage lift stations.