In a thin month for major project awards, insurance giant AXA gave Multiplex the go-ahead to start main works on its 650,000 sq ft 50 Fenchurch Street office in the city of London.

The 36-storey project exemplified the new generation of office schemes in the pipeline with hanging gardens from every floor and a landscaped terrace for office workers on the 10-floor.

Bowmer & Kirkland ranked second with half a dozen wins, the largest a £190m job at Warner Brothers Studios in Hertfordshire.

According to data compiled by Barbour ABI, the value of contract awards to the 50 most successful firms slumped by 40% to £2.5bn. This was due to a scarcity of major project wins likely caused by clients awaiting the outcome of the General Election.

In the rolling 12-month league of wins, Morgan Sindall continued to rank top well ahead of the chasing pack, which saw Kier return to second place, followed by BAM, Willmott Dixon and Wates.

Among the other big project wins Austrian hydro specialist Andritz win Drax’s £80m project to refurbish its iconic ‘Hollow Mountain’ Cruachan pumped storage hydro power station in Scotland.

Cruachan Power Station is one of just four pumped storage hydro facilities in the UK

Willmott Dixon secured a £60m apart-hotel project in the Gateshead Quays area for Elliot Group.

Gateshead apart-hotel plan

In the West Midlands, McLaren Construction has secured the Oaks student accommodation scheme in Westwood Business Park, Coventry.