Paddington Cube appoints steel firm as Mace formally signs up for £350m job

William Hare has been appointed to carry out the £50m steelwork contract at the Paddington Cube mixed-use scheme in west London.

The appointment comes as main contractor Mace and developer Great Western Developments, which is made up of Singapore firm Hotel Properties and Sellar, have agreed a £350m price for the job.

Mace was appointed last January under a pre-construction services agreement, having beaten Sir Robert McAlpine and Multiplex to the two-stage deal, and has now signed up for entire job which is being let as a design and build lump sum contract.

Bury-based Hare, which in its last set of accounts posted an improved turnover of £221m for the year to December 2018, will this July start putting up the first of the 5,300 tonnes of steel at the scheme, which is officially known as Paddington Square.

Erith has completed demolition work at the west London site while an Erith-led team, which also includes Laing O’Rourke-owned Expanded and Morrisroe, has completed piling and is now carrying out excavation work.

Known as the basement box, the piling and enabling works scheme, which has a £50m price tag, will eventually lead to a ticket hall for the Bakerloo line station at Paddington. Designed by architect Scott Brownrigg, the £30m ticket hall is set to be built by Erith.

Sellar has also appointed Italian firm Focchi as cladding contractor. The firm is working on several high-profile schemes including McAlpine’s 100 Liverpool Street scheme at Broadgate Circus and Bam’s 26-storey scheme at 103 Colmore Row in Birmingham, the tallest building going up in the country outside the capital.

The M&E package, the biggest trade contract on the job, worth £55m, is due to be carried out by Mace’s M&E arm.

Designed by Shard architect Renzo Piano, the scheme will have office space running across 360,000 sq ft as well as retail and a rooftop restaurant. The reception will be on the second floor and run across 20,000 sq ft and include an auditorium, bar and terrace.

It is due to open in 2022.