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Balfour Beatty clawed its way to the top of the contractors鈥� league table this month not by bagging any huge projects, but by edging out rivals whose workload fell

It won first place in all three contractors鈥� tables this month, yet did not figure in Barometer鈥檚 list of large project wins and at 拢172m scooped just 拢25.5m more this month than in February.

Balfour鈥檚 showing is a far cry from the 拢627m worth of work it won in March 2010, when its cumulative yearly total was also vastly higher, standing at 拢7.3bn.
Wates, the top contractor in February, saw its performance slip from 拢160m to 拢93m, but still picked up the 拢29m John Roan School project for Greenwich council in London.

There still seems to be life in the education sector, with Lend Lease picking up a 拢70m schools project for Wandsworth council.

Worryingly, for the industry, most of the large project wins were from the public sector - for example, John Sisk鈥檚 拢20.4m appointment on four temporary shooting ranges for the Olympic Delivery Authority.

The value of non-civils projects actually fell compared with last month, dropping from 拢921m to 拢867m.

But, significantly, when civils projects are factored in, the total workload rose, from 拢946m to 拢994m, with Balfour Beatty winning 拢58.5m of the civils work, while Kier picked up 拢40.5m of civils work to make it second in the table.

This echoes Experian data released last week that predicted infrastructure work would be one of the few parts of construction to grow this year, albeit by a miserly 1%.

This is backed up by the fact that once again Crossrail is by some way the largest client this month.

Curiously, there are almost as many jobs being won now compared with last year, but they are simply much smaller. Average project values for the top 30 contractors have fallen over the last 12 months from 拢5.4m to 拢3.8m.