Procurement strategy on £900m London towers job close to being finalised

The procurement strategy for a huge towers scheme at Blackfriars is close to being sorted out, Building understands.

The job at 18 Blackfriars, which will be one of the biggest to come up for grabs in London in the coming years, is set to be let as two-stage job beginning with a construction management route before switching to a fixed-price.

Worries have previously been expressed about letting the job, worth more than £900m, as a fixed-price from the start because of concerns over the level of financial risk firms would have to take on.

Lipton Rogers, the firm behind 22 Bishopsgate, is development manager on the project, which includes 100,000 sq m of office space and 433 homes, with others on the team so far including engineer Arup and QS T&T Alinea.

The job, designed by Foster & Partners, is being run by US developer Hines and will see the construction of a 45-storey office plus two residential buildings of 40 and 22 storeys all rising from a four-storey podium.

Firms to have looked at the scheme include Multiplex along with Mace, Lendlease and Sir Robert McAlpine.

But several have told Building they are waiting for confirmation of the procurement route from Lipton Rogers before deciding whether to go for it. “We are going to wait until we are told officially and then have an internal discussion [about whether to bid].”

Enabling works are due to begin by the end of the year with main construction starting early next year. The entire scheme is expected to take four years to build.