黑洞社区

London developers are opening up their pipelines to a greater number of contractors as the market heats up, according to the Crown Estate and Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC).

Speaking at the Built Environment Networking event on Major London Developments last week, Alastair Smart, head of development and project management at the Crown Estate, said his organisation had 鈥渟hifted its procurement strategy鈥� to 鈥渟pread the net a little further afield鈥� when hiring contractors.

Smart explained this was partly due to contractors 鈥渂ecoming a little more choosey鈥� when bidding and 鈥渟ome upward pressure鈥� on tender prices.

But Smart warned suppliers not to get carried away: 鈥淚 think the market might be in danger of talking itself up. All of us have had hard times over the past five years. Now we need to work together.鈥�

David Twohig, head of design and placemaking at BPSDC, said his firm will also 鈥渉ave to look at more potentials鈥� when selecting contractors for the next phases of the redevelopment of the iconic Grade II* listed Power Station.

Also speaking at the event, Oliver Gardiner, head of development management for Land Securities鈥� London portfolio, said the developer had procured most of its pipeline, but recognises on upcoming tenders 鈥渢here needs to be a lot more due diligence and working with the contractor side by side.鈥�