Costain tops league of road builders

Costain has topped the Highways Agency’s controversial road builders’ league table.

The rankings are critical to contractors and consultants because they influence selection of bidders on the £1.5bn annual motorways and trunk roads programme.

Replacing the old CAT ranking system, the new StART – Strategic Alignment Review Toolkit – is also being used to highlight firms’ strength and weaknesses.

Firms were audited on leadership, supply chain management, cost as well as new areas such as commitment to inclusion and sustainability.

StART scoring is out of a theoretical maximum of 180. Just four firms scored over 75% of top marks – Costain, EnterpriseMouchel, Carillion and Balfour Beatty.

Agency procurement chiefs said there was significant contrast in category scoring behind each headline score.

They will now forensically shift through details from the 21 firms taking part to press for improvements and identify best practice down the supply chain.

Highways Agency StART scores

Costain - 139.7
EnterpriseMouchel - 138.0
Carillion - 137.4
Balfour Beatty CE - 135.7
Halcrow Group - 133.0
Skanska - 130.3
BAM Nuttall - 129.7
Colas - 126.4
Jacobs Engineering UK - 126.3
Eurovia Ringway Group - 126.0
Atkins Highways - 115.7
Mott MacDonald - 115.7
Serco Integrated Transport - 115.4
Amey - 112.0
Ferrovial Agromán UK - 110.6
Morgan Sindall -102.0
Sir Robert McAlpine -98.3
WSP Civils - 91.3
VolkerFitzpatrick - 74.4
Interserve Project Services - 70.7
GallifordTry Infrastructure - 69.3

Maximum score: 180