The Ministry of Defence has chosen a consortium led by Babcock International and Bovis Lend Lease for a 拢500m property maintenance and capital works contract.
The Debut Services team will start work on the south-west regional prime contract in 2004. It is scheduled to last seven years, but the MoD has an option to extend it until 2015.

Bovis will handle the capital work and Babcock will provide maintenance services. The deal covers a triangle between Gloucester, Portsmouth and Cornwall.

Peter Rogers, chief executive of Babcock, said: "This is the second success for Debut, following last year's Single Living Accommodation Modernisation contract win."

n The MoD has invited expressions of interest in the last of its prime contracts, covering 180 facilities in eastern England, stretching from Nottinghamshire to Suffolk. The deadline is 28 November.