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Balfour Beatty held on to the contractors’ top spot in September, thanks to a multimillion-pound contract won by its support services division. The win stretched its lead over Skanska in the yearly table from £1.6bn to £1.8bn.

Balfour’s Haden ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø Management arm secured a £320m contract from the Department for Work and Pensions to provide office support services for seven years.

There was plenty of movement in the table below Balfour, with most of the top 10 places changing hands.

The most notable riser was Bovis Lend Lease, which moved back to second from last month’s fourth position.

Just four contracts gave it the runner-up spot, including a £49m deal for a Cadbury Schweppes factory in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Laing O’Rourke remained in third position with six contracts

Norwest Holst, a subsidiary of French contractor Vinci, scored a trio of contracts to push it 11 places up the rankings to number four. Its headline September deal was a £107m mixed-use development in London

for a joint venture between Vinci and St Modwen. It is part of the Ministry of Defence's wider expansion of RAF Northolt in west London, which is known as project MoDEL.

York-based Shepherd Construction was another high climber. It failed to make an impact in last month’s top 30, but rode into number six in September. Taylor Woodrow and Durkan also made a splash after failing to register in August. On the other hand, Galliford Try slipped from fifth place to number 37.

Public sector work accounted for 42% of new contracts in September. Commercial deals made up 36% of contracts, followed by housing with 15% and industrial with 7%.

Balfour Beatty’s strong performance drove it further ahead of rival Skanska in the rolling annual table. Between October 2005 and September 2006 the contractor has won 974 contracts worth in excess of £4bn. Skanska, which made it to only number 16 in this month’s chart, has landed 200 contracts worth £2.2bn.