Bouygues UK bags Battersea £1 bil job

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): Battersea Power Station Development Co (BPSDC), the development manager of the Battersea Power Station project in London, has appointed Bouygues UK as the preferred contractor for Phase 3 of the project, with a contract worth over £1 billion (RM6.51 billion).

“The final construction contract will have a value in excess of £1 billion, making it one of the largest private building contracts ever to be awarded,” said BPSDC in a statement.

Work on Phase 3 is due to start in early 2016, alongside the ongoing construction of Circus West (Phase 1) and the regeneration of the power station itself (Phase 2).

BPSDC said together, Phase 1, 2 and 3, will be the largest single development project in central London since Canary Wharf.

“Phase 3 is a key part of the regeneration of the Battersea project, and features a new pedestrianised high street for London, known as The Electric Boulevard.

“The boulevard will be the main gateway to the entire Battersea development, connecting the Northern Line Extension station to the south of the site with the power station itself,” it added.

Phase 3 will comprise 1,305 homes in a range of sizes and styles on either side of the 250m long split-level boulevard that will offer 350,000 sq ft of space dedicated to retail and food and beverage outlets and will lead people through the Malaysia Square set to the immediate south of the power station.

“The appointment of Bouygues UK as preferred contractor to build Phase 3 — the gateway to the power station — is a major milestone and increases the total area under construction on site to approximately five million sq ft,” BPSDC chief executive officer Rob Tincknell said in the statement.

“Bouygues UK demonstrated an impressive approach to the project and had a clear ability to address the challenges of the current London market, resulting in the best cost and programme outcomes. We welcome them to the delivery team that will build these new landmarks for London,” he added.

Work is expected to start on the northern half of the Phase 3 site in the first quarter of 2016, to be completed in 2019.

Works on the southern half, meanwhile, will commence in 2018 and conclude in 2020, in parallel with the opening of the Northern Line Extension.

Bouygues Group is well known for its work on large residential and mixed-use developments. Such examples include Eikenøtt in Switzerland, The Sail @ Marina Bay in Singapore and the Brickell City Centre in Miami.

BPSDC said the team from Bouygues UK will work alongside Phase 3’s principal consultants who have already been appointed, namely Foster + Partners, Gehry Partners, Adamson Associates, AECOM, ChapmanBDSP, BuroHappold and LDA Design.

The Battersea Power Station project is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors comprising SP Setia Bhd (40%), Sime Darby Bhd (40%) and the Employees Provident Fund (20%).

This article first appeared in the digitaledge DAILY on Sept 17, 2015. Subscribe here.