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This time last year Kier topped the league table with 58 new contracts worth 拢375m. That was July 2007 and a month before the words 鈥渃redit crunch鈥� became part of our everyday vocabulary.

A year later, Morgan Sindall heads the leader board with 34 contracts worth 拢163m. The fact that it won less than half the value of Kier鈥檚 contracts did is not a great portent one year into the downturn.

Overall, the top 30 companies won 328 contracts worth 拢1.7bn in July, compared with 409 deals worth 拢2.2bn last year.

Morgan Sindall鈥檚 big wins give a clue as to which areas of the economy are still holding up. The first was a 拢60m deal won by its Lovell arm to repair and maintain 16,700 homes for Haringey council in London. The other was a similar 拢15.7m deal in Liverpool.

As with June, the social housing sector dominated the top of the leader board last month, accounting for 57% of the work won by the top four companies.

In second spot was Lakehouse Contracts with eight deals worth 拢153m. A social housing repair and maintenance deal for the London borough of Camden accounted for 拢150m of the haul.

In third spot was HBG, which did well given that it did not win any social housing work. It bagged a 拢40m commercial deal in central London and a 拢18.5m education contract for the Quaerere academy in Birmingham.

Rok finished in fourth position with a total haul of 拢121m. Of that, 拢87m was social housing work. Its wins included a 拢30m deal for Home Group Central in the Midlands and a 拢25m contract in Cornwall.

In fifth place was Willmott Dixon with 拢115m of new work, which included a 拢30m deal for a theatre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and a 拢25m sports complex for the University of Surrey.

In the rolling 12-month table, Laing O鈥橰ourke narrowed Balfour Beatty鈥檚 lead at the top from 拢323m to 拢208m and HBG leapfrogged Kier to take third place.