Balfour Beatty has powered back to the top of the monthly contracts league after securing the £833m Net Zero Teesside power station project.
The scheme sees the contractor appointed to deliver major onshore works as construction partner to Technip Energies, marking Balfour’s return to pole position after a prolonged absence from the summit.
The win also propelled the firm up to fourth place in the rolling 12-month league table for total contract value secured.
Private contractor Bowmer + Kirkland finished January in second place, banking a series of awards worth more than £760m, according to figures compiled by Barbour ABI.
Its strongest result was the £274m main contract for Newcastle University’s Castle Leazes student accommodation redevelopment. The contractor has also been named preferred builder for the proposed TV and film studio at Sunderland’s former Crown Works shipyard, although funding for that scheme is still to be fully confirmed.
Across the industry, the top 50 contractors began 2026 on a strong footing, securing £4.58bn of work across 112 projects. That marginally eclipsed December’s £4.52bn year-end total and points to an uplift in awards driven by a small number of major project wins.
In the rolling 12-month standings, Strabag retained top spot, underpinned by its £3bn long-term Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme contract.
