Smarte work goes Morgan Sindall's way

These are tough times for the building industry, but Morgan Sindall had some cheer today after landing a slice of £500 million in construction work up for grabs from three local councils.

Morgan has been picked by the Smarte East Alliance, a partnership between Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk councils, as one of four preferred builders to carry out major building projects over the next four years in the region. The other successful firms are May Gurney, Farrans and Lakehouse. The deal is likely to be worth at least £25 million a year to Sindall.

Fellow builder and support services firm Carillion also landed a brace of facilities management contracts from Nationwide and Virgin Media worth up to £204 million in total.

The company will look after 800 High Street branches for the Nationwide, and maintain Virgin Media's national properties, including its Hook headquarters.