Contractor is close to being given the construction managment role on the iconic new tower at London Bridge

Mace is set to land the role on the 拢350m Shard of Glass tower in London, which will be Europe鈥檚 tallest building when it is completed.

The client, developer Sellar Property Group, will announce in the next two weeks that Mace has been chosen to run the building of the tower, according to sources close to the scheme.

Mace was competing against Laing O鈥橰ourke, Sir Robert McAlpine and Multiplex. However Multiplex, which was a pre-construction adviser on the Shard, last week withdrew from third-party client work.

Contractors were invited to bid for the Shard role in June. Completion of the 83-storey building next to London Bridge is expected in 2010. The building will include apartments, a hotel and shops.

WSP is structural on the Shard, the office element of which will be occupied by Transport for London.

The win would cap a successful run for Mace. The firm is understood to have won a 拢40m contract to build an extension to the Foster and Partners鈥� Stansted airport in Essex.

Completion of this scheme is scheduled for June 2008, and is not expected to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the airport.

Mace has also won the role of planning supervisor on BAA鈥檚 拢1bn Heathrow East project, which is the client鈥檚 next big scheme after Terminal 5. Work will involve the demolition of Terminal 2.

Mace is logistics operator at T5, but will hand responsibility for this to Wilson James in March next year.