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Dutch-owned contractor HBG bounced back to the top of the monthly contractor’s tables after pocketing £253m worth of work in March.

But the £101m garnered by sixth-placed Balfour Beatty over the month was enough for it to regain pole position in the 12-month table, jumping over Laing O’Rourke, last month’s top earner. Balfour’s haul is now £3.9bn against Laing O’Rourke’s £3.3bn.

Kier, last month’s top earner, tumbled to number eight during March with £73.8m worth of contracts over the month. But Kier held on to third place in the yearly table with £2.4bn, ahead of HBG with £2.1bn.

HBG’s return to the monthly table – after February’s absence – was boosted by its victory in a brace of education tenders: a £95m contract to design and build a new facility for Harrow College in west London and a £38.5m contract to design and construct a college building for Newcastle-under-Lyme college. HBG also bagged a private sector contract worth £67m for developer Derwent in London.

Carillion and Leadbitter also basked in the first month of spring. Carillion jumped 20 places to take the number-two slot with £237m worth of work. The bulk of the cash was generated by winning the £156m Lumiere development in Leeds, which will involve the construction of two mixed-use high-rise towers in the west end of the city.

Oxford-based contractor Leadbitter was catapulted into the top 30 for the first time this year with a monthly haul of £160m. Leadbitter’s total was buoyed by a £25m contract with Newport council, part of the ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø Schools for the Future programme.

Wates was another big mover, climbing from 18 last month to number seven after clinching a £35m contract for the refurbishment of the National Audit Office’s headquarters in London. Wates was also boosted by winning a £22m contract to build a library at Canterbury Christ Church university.

See attached graphic for industry rankings.