The firm flew up the rankings with one major deal worth £430m for a PFI housing regeneration contract at Pendleton for Salford City Council.

Laing O’Rourke picked up a £120m job to build a biomedical campus in Cambridge for the Department of Health and John Laing.

The deal helped it to second place in the league for the month but failed to prevent the firm falling out of the top 10 most successful contractors based on contract wins in the rolling 12 months to September.

The sudden drop through the rankings from fourth place last time is based on its massive Hinkley C nuclear power station falling out of the annualised rankings.

Nevertheless, Laing O’Rourke is still geared up for an announcement in the next few weeks of a deal between power company EDF and the Government over electricity price, which should clear the way for construction to start.

In the annualised league, Balfour has extended its lead ahead of the chasing group of Morgan Sindall, Mace and Kier which are separated by little more than one major job.

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Among the other climber during September were Mount Anvil, which secured a £100m residential/commercial development at Canary Wharf for Londonnewcastle.

Spanish group Isolux Corsan made a rare appearance after securing a £70m solar farm project in Sudbury for Santander.

Balfour Beatty has a £40m project for Bristow Helicopters to build a search & rescue base in Aberdeen.

The tables can be found in the Contracts Spy section of the website listed at the top of this page.

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