Wates wins £160m to go top

Wates was the most successful contractor during February as it won work worth £160m during the month, according to data from construction information service Barbour ABI. This was enough to displace January’s leading firm, Bam Nuttall, from top spot, when civils contracts are included in the total. During February, Bam Nuttall disappeared from the top 30 altogether.

Wates won 36 contracts during February, helping it to beat industry giant Balfour Beatty, which came in second after securing 77 contracts worth a total of £147m.

The top 10 firms won work worth £946m in February, a significant drop compared with January, when contracts worth £2.1bn were awarded.

Despite this sharp drop, Wates moved up two places in the top 10 for the year. But Balfour Beatty is still significantly ahead of its rivals, after securing contracts worth £3.9bn in the last year.

Its nearest rival, Morgan Sindall, managed £1.7bn of contract wins in the last year - less than half Balfour Beatty’s total. While there may have been a slight shuffle in positioning, the rest of the top 10 was unchanged compared with January. When civils contracts are excluded, Ardmore was a new entrant into the top 10. It only secured one contract during February, but this £60m win, for the mixed-use Bayscape project in Cardiff, was good enough for ninth spot.

The only change in the architects table, which was again topped by PRP after it won work on projects worth £4.7bn, was the demotion of Scott Brownrigg into eleventh place. Its place in the top 10 was taken by Nightingale Associates.

Crossrail was, again, the client awarding the most work in the 12 months to the end of February 2011, with contracts worth £17.8bn. Scottish Power knocked the Highways Agency into third place after it awarded work worth £5.5bn. Despite this, the total value of work awarded by the top 10 clients fell by 10% to £51bn.