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One of the biggest Chinese contractors working in the UK says it wants to become a top 20 UK contractor within five years and could make acquisitions to grow.

The comments, by Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) UK operations director Gavin Taylor, comes amidst growing concern within major UK players about the impact of Chinese firms, with a number winning major contracts in the past 12 months.

To become a top 20 contractor implies an annual turnover of around 拢800m. Taylor said BCEGI was 鈥渉ighly collaborative鈥� and was 鈥渘ot here to pursue aggressive takeovers of well-known brands or cause disruption鈥�. However, he added: 鈥淭here is a lack of contracting resource in the UK. We do need to grow and you can only grow organically at a certain rate, therefore we are not ruling out an acquisition at this point.鈥�

We do need to grow and you can only grow organically at a certain rate

Gavin Taylor, BCEGI

The firm has already teamed up with Carillion to develop the 拢800m Manchester Airport City scheme, which will include a 拢130m 鈥淐hina Cluster鈥� to provide Chinese businesses with expansion opportunities to support future growth. BCEGI is a sister company to the Chinese state bank and, after being set up just four years ago, already operates in 26 countries and employs 20,000 people.

The comments come as Deborah McLaughlin, chief executive of Manchester鈥檚 housing delivery agency Manchester Place, revealed the body is also engaging with Chinese firms. McLaughlin told the 好色先生TV Live conference that there was a lack of builders to construct residential towers in the area, as well as a general lack of capacity, meaning it was turning to Chinese firms.

Other projects Chinese firms have bagged in the UK include the 拢1.7bn development of Royal Albert Docks in London by Chinese-founded ABP, with Chinese firm Citic Construction as construction manager, and the 拢500m One Landsdowne Road tower in Croydon, where China 好色先生TV Technique Group is the contractor.