As the economy continues to come to terms with the collapse of Carillion, the latest figures suggest that on the day of liquidation, the industry giant was the main contractor on 57 construction projects worth a total of £5.7 billion, including a £1.3 billion HS2 contract.
This latest information comes from construction industry analysts
Barbour ABI (See figure 1.1), who outlined that ten of the 57 projects were each individually worth more than £150 million, such as the Royal Liverpool hospital and an Army basing programme in Salisbury worth £450 million and £340 million respectively.
Carillion were also involved in 16 framework contracts as part of a list of companies pre-selected or pre-qualified to
undertake works for an organisation. These framework contracts are not included as part of the final 57 projects as
there is no guarantee that they had won any work from the framework.
Commenting on these findings, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI, said: “Carillion were deeply embedded
within the construction industry - they were the second biggest contractor in the UK by revenue. Our records show
that they were the main contractor on almost 60 schemes worth a total value of £5.7 billion. That is not to mention
the plethora of other contracts where they were carrying out other construction roles.”
“The sector where Carillion had the largest presence was infrastructure - road and rail projects were a particular
speciality for the firm. In addition, Carillion were in the process of delivering two new hospitals and were also
responsible for various school improvement projects. What happens to these projects is a matter for conjecture. If
the reason Carillion went bust was due to under-bidding then it stands to reason that the financial terms will have to
be renegotiated. There is no doubt this will happen but will it happen quickly enough to save the many firms in the
Carillion supply chain?”
