Laing O’Rourke wins London Gateway project

News – July 18, 2008

CNPlus reports that Laing O’Rourke has beaten two rivals to win the first package of work for the £1.5 billion London Gateway for client DP World.

Said CNPlus: “The news is a blow to rivals Costain and a Nuttall/Van Oord joint venture which had also been pricing the deal.”

One source told CNPlus that the Dartford firm “has come up with a deal which will mean the client stumping up less cash than originally envisaged.”

He told Construction News: “We don’t know what they’ve been up to but they came up with a solution that’s different to the one the client wanted. Apparently it’s cheaper.”

The job will involve building a deep sea port in the Thames Estuary for DP World.

Both Laing O’Rourke and Costain – which in May said it had won a deal to build two berths, believed to be worth £200 million, at Felixstowe container port for Hutchison Ports – made their pitches out in Dubai.

CNPlus said work at the site, on the north bank of the River Thames near Thurrock, Essex, is expected to begin before the end of the year.

It will include a 2.3km long quay with seven deep water container vessel berths.

Once finished it will provide additional capacity for 3.5 million cargo units every year and will be a hub for the world’s largest container ships.

In addition to the deep sea facility, London Gateway port will combine with Europe’s largest logistics park, offering 9.5 million sq ft for the distribution, manufacturing and hightech sectors.