Mace wins £70m Blackfriars job

Construction firm Mace is set to be awarded the £70m job to build a 20-storey tower on Blackfriars Road which will become Building’s new base.

Mace currently has a role for pre-construction services on the Allford Hall Monaghan Morris-designed building, and is set to be awarded the full job, on which construction will start next month.

Joint land-owner Great Portland Estates announced this morning that the publisher of Building magazine, UBM, has signed a pre-let agreement to take on nine floors of the scheme, 240 Blackfriars Road, when it is complete in 2014.

The building is being developed by a joint venture between Great Portland Estates and Ropemaker Properties, and will provide 237,000ft² of space, including 223,000ft² of offices, a small amount of retail and ten private apartments in an adjacent building.

UBM has signed up to 105,648ft² of the building, paying £4.9m a year with a three-year rent-free period, taking the top nine floors. UBM will itself fit out the building, receiving a £6m contribution from Great Portland Estates to take it from shell condition to category “A” fit-out.

Jackson Coles is project managing the scheme, with AKT II structural engineer and Hilson Moran services engineer.

Neil Thompson, portfolio director of GPE said, “240 Blackfriars Road will be a prominent, high quality building of outstanding design which will help to continue the regeneration of this part of the Southbank.”