Costain

The government should appoint an infrastructure secretary to ensure stronger leadership on nationally significant projects across the UK, Costain’s chief executive has suggested. Speaking to Construction News, Alex Vaughan said a dedicated senior minister in the role would help to “join up” different government departments working on large-scale schemes. Vaughan…

Four big-name contractors have been appointed to a £1.3bn project to upgrade a key section of road in northern England. Balfour Beatty, Costain, Kier and Keltbray have signed an agreement to deliver the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project. The deal will see the firms work together to dual remaining single-carriageway sections…

HS2 has fired up its first giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) in London. The 2,000-tonne piece of equipment, known as Sushila, was launched in Hillingdon on 6 October and will bore five miles towards Greenford in west London. Sushila will work on a 24-hour basis for the next 22 months,…

Costain and Mott MacDonald have been awarded a role on the £1.7bn A303 Stonehenge Tunnel scheme by National Highways. Plans for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme would see a 3.2km tunnel built under the World Heritage Site, 50m away from the current route of the A303. National Highways…

Costain has named a Conservative peer as its new chair. Baroness Kate Rock will replace Paul Golby as chair on 1 December, after the group announced his intention to step down in March this year. Since 2020, Baroness Rock has occupied the role of senior independent director at geotechnical specialist…

Major contractors have a duty to support smaller firms to stop them going out of business, Costain’s chief executive has said. Speaking to Construction News after the publication of the group’s half-year results for the year ended 30 June 2022, Alex Vaughan said he was concerned for smaller suppliers navigating…

Pre-tax profits at Costain rose by more than a fifth in the first half of this year, thanks to inflation protection mechanisms written into its contracts. In interim results for the half-year ended 30 June, published this morning, the contractor reported pre-tax profits of £11.2m, compared with £9.1m during the…

A construction worker involved in Costain's Gatwick Airport station upgrade venture has died. The 35-year-old male was employed by Kilnbridge, a structural works subcontractor chosen to work on the £150m project. He died during the early hours of 22 July. Police officers were called to the site following reports that…

Costain’s revenue in the first half of the year has surpassed market expectations, the contractor has announced. In a trading update this morning, the civils firm outlined that it expects its full-year turnover to also beat what analysts expected. In the year ending 31 December 2021, it turned over £1.14bn.…

National Highways has demanded that its tier one contractors submit details of their anti-fraud policies as part of a crackdown on suspected malpractice on its contracts.  Malcolm Dare, executive director for commercial and procurement at National Highways, has given contractors two weeks to submit evidence of their own internal safeguards…