Skanska UK Inks Agreement to Build London Office Project

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

London–Skanska UK recently announced that it has completed an agreement with developer Helical Bar for the construction of a London project; the project will be included in the company’s order bookings for the second quarter of 2014. The contract is valued at around 95 million GBP or $160 million. Skanska beat out Balfour Beatty and Carillion for the contract.

With the development process set to start this August, the Creechurch Place project in London will be a 21-level office building offering a total of approximately 280,000 square feet of space. Skanska has been tasked with the construction, mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as the installation of services within the main plant rooms. The deadline on the development, which is formerly known as One Mitre Square, is set for September 2016.

Skanska will join a development team that currently includes architecture practice Sheppard Robson, project manager GVA Second London Wall, quantity surveyor Davis Langdon, M&E engineer and fire engineer, as well structural engineer Ramboll.

The Creechurch Place office building’s plans will line up the development for a BREEAM Excellent rating once completed. BREEAM, which stands for Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology, was first launched in 1990 and has since become one of the leading building rating systems. Around 1 million facilities have registered for assessment since the system first appeared and around 250,000 buildings have been certified under the rating system.

Developer Skanska UK reported 2013 revenues of approximately $2 billion. The company currently has 5,000 employees and is active in building and civil construction, utilities and building services, as well as facilities management and commercial development. On the local market, the company has focused on the public private partnerships or PPPs.