Major contractor lands dual deals worth £87m

Galliford Try has scooped two London-based building contracts worth a combined £87m.

The contractor – the UK’s 15th biggest according to the latest CN100 – will redevelop 30-33 Sloane Street (pictured) in London for £53m. The project will include a new six-storey building comprising luxury retail units, some Category A offices and a rooftop restaurant.

It will retain the building’s original facade and will incorporate the nearby 2 Hans Crescent – which will be demolished and rebuilt – and the ground floor of 49 Pavilion Road.

In a planning presentation to the local council, property investor Cadogan Estate – which appointed Galliford Try to the job – said the original facade of 30-33 Sloane Street “makes a positive contribution” to the local conservation area and should be retained. But it added that the original character of 2 Hans Crescent had “been diluted by changes made in the 1950s”.

“No 2 [Hans Crescent] was substantially altered so that its original appearance as an individual Tudorbethan-style house can no longer be seen,” it added.

Galliford Try also announced a new £34m job to build a 12,400 square metre site for Big Yellow Self Storage in Wapping, east London.

That site will be up to eight storeys high. As well as the self-storage facility, it will include flexible office space and has been designed to target BREEAM excellent rating.

Galliford Try chief executive Bill Hocking said maintaining organic growth in its building business was “a key part of our sustainable growth strategy”, adding that it had a “strong” track record in the commercial sector.

“We look forward to working with both of these blue-chip clients to create schemes that we can be proud of and that enhance the local environment,” he added.

Galliford Try boosted its turnover to £1.8bn in its latest accounts for the year to 30 June 2024, thanks mainly to bumper jobs in the infrastructure sector, including the Anglian Framework, contracts from Southern Water and the £3.7bn Wessex framework. Its pre-tax profit also increased by more than a third to £32.7m, from £23.4m.

It expects to reach a £2.2bn turnover and margin of 4 per cent by 2030, due largely to the government’s focus on affordable housing.