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Carillion was way ahead of its rivals in the contractors' monthly league in April, thanks to the Ministry of Defence's Allenby and Connaught project, which has finally reached financial close. It will be worth £12bn over its 35 year life.

The £616m initial phase of the contract will involve the redevelopment of garrisons at Aldershot and across Salisbury Plain. Carillion inherited Allenby and Connaught from Mowlem, which it bought for £313m in February. The contract was an important factor behind the acquisition, as it was considered the most attractive element of Mowlem's portfolio.

Overall, Carillion topped the April league with five wins worth £663m; Bovis Lend Lease took second place with contracts worth a mere £300m.

But it wasn't just the public sector that boosted contractors last month. Bovis Lend Lease's second place position was the result of winning three contracts in the commercial sector worth a total of £300m.

That was more than double the amount won by third-placed Balfour Beatty, which bagged £130m of building work in March, divided into 77 contracts. Its successes were achieved across housing, public sector non-housing work, and commercial sector work, but its single biggest win was a £35m Decent Homes project for client Hammersmith and Fulham Housing Management Services.

Laing O'Rourke made it to fourth place in April after not featuring anywhere in the top 30 in the previous month. It won five projects worth £121m, predominantly in the public sector. Among its notable wins was a £25m project on behalf of the National Blood Service Laboratory in Bristol.

In the cumulative annual league, much stayed the same in the top 10, as Balfour Beatty, Bovis Lend Lease and Kier continued to dominate the top three positions.

However Carillion moved up three places to fourth, thanks to its army work, which took its total wins to £1.68bn.

On the flipside, Costain slipped three places; it has a 56 contracts worth a total of £1.14bn under its belt.

Further down the annual table Morrison jumped seven places to 14 with 112 contracts worth £575m. That was because it was the biggest winner of civils contracts in April overall, with seven contracts worth a combined £224m.

The Durkan Group jumped 12 places to 29th in the annual league with projects worth a total of £202m. Last month it won four building contracts worth £72m but by far its biggest win was a £68m housing project for Genesis Housing Group in west London.

After Morrison, the biggest winner in civils was Balfour Beatty, with £164m of projects.

Overall, public sector building work dominated the market last month, with £1.17bn of contracts awarded, followed by the commercial sector with £758m.