Europe鈥檚 third largest contractor to add British building division to its civils and PPP business

German contractor Hochtief is planning to establish a British building division this year.

Despite being Europe鈥檚 third largest contractor, Hochtief has so far only worked on civils and PPP investments in the UK. The building division would be intended to complement these activities.

A Hochtief spokesperson said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e reviewing the building construction market in the UK with a view to supporting the existing construction and PPP business.鈥�

He said the division hoped to have large projects on its order from its inception. He said: 鈥淲e are in talks with investors about concrete projects, and we will start with selected ones.鈥�

Hochtief鈥檚 project in Darmstadt, Germany, for telecoms company T-Com

Tony Lally, Hochtief UK鈥檚 development manager, is looking at potential projects. It is understood that there are at least two that the building team could construct with German clients, and another two that would come from Hochtief鈥檚 PPP arm.

The division鈥檚 head has yet to be selected, though Stephen Ives, Hochtief UK鈥檚 managing director, is likely to retain overall control. This means the division is likely to be based with Ives in Swindon.

The move means that the PPP arm, which is based in Manchester, could start bidding for projects worth 拢150m or more.

At present it is an investor that bids with other construction firms on relatively small PPP projects, such as schools and courts.

John Cann, the chief executive of PPP at Hochtief, said he hoped to have 20 PPP investments on his books in three to five years time. At present it has seven.