A Laing O'Rourke joint venture has beaten off three rivals, including Balfour Beatty, to win a £350m airport contract in Dubai
The engineering, procurement and construction contract is the second of seven packages from Dubai International Airport's £2.5bn programme. It covers the reinforced concrete structures for the airport's second concourse and third terminal.

Laing O'Rourke's joint-venture partner is local firm Al-Naboodah Contracting, which last year won the first package on the airport, an earthworks and piling contract estimated to be worth £85m. Laing and Al-Naboodah first worked together in 1977.

A third package estimated at £150m, covering internal finishes, structural steel and electromechanical works, is due to go to tender in the next two months.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation, said: "We have signed an agreement with Al-Naboodah–Laing after stiff competition between bidders, thorough study and evaluation of all the bids. The tender submitted by Al-Naboodah–Laing suits our needs and priorities the most and matches our expectations. The project is to be completed in 30 months." He added: "We do not want to quote the value of the contract as a matter of policy to prevent others from pre-evaluating future tenders." However, industry sources estimate the contract to be worth £350m. Laing O'Rourke declined to comment.

The three rival bidders for the contract were all joint ventures between international companies and local firms. The overseas bidders were South Africa's Murray & Roberts, Balfour Beatty with Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company, and Belgium's Six Construct working with Interbeton of the Netherlands.

In May, the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation said the airport expansion was ahead of schedule, and had been revised to accommodate higher passenger growth estimates. Passenger traffic is due to grow 12–15% per year, reaching 40 million by 2010, 70 million by 2016 and 100 million between 2020 and 2025.

After stiff competition between the bidders, we have signed with Laing

Sheikh Al Maktoum, Department of Civil Aviation

… as five taxi for take-off at Manchester

Manchester airport group, the UK's biggest airport operator after BAA, has shortlisted five teams for a consultants framework deal.

Teams led by Aedas, Mace, Gleeds, Turner & Townsend and Davis Langdon & Everest will be whittled down to two at the end of next month. Both will be offered partnering deals with the group, which is owned by the city council.

Each of the teams includes a mix of engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and project managers.

The framework will cover construction work at Manchester, Bournemouth, East Midlands and Humberside airports. The agreement will include commercial developments at the four airports, as well as core work such as terminals and extensions.

Manchester Airport Group has yet to draw up its shortlist for the second framework deal, which covers design-and-build contractors. The framework selection process is likely to follow the same pattern as the choice of consultant teams.