When we reported earlier this week that Balfour Beatty had replaced Costain on a £200m tunnelling contract, Costain was unable to offer comment because of the impending release of its interim financial results. Now it can. Today Costain has reported its results and is now free to speak out on the loss of that contract after four years in the driving seat. Back in 2013 EDF Energy engaged Costain, on an early contractor involvement (ECI) basis, for a £200m contract to build approximately 10km of seven-metre diameter tunnels for the cooling system required for the new Hinkley Point C power station. However it transpired this week that the contract was never formally signed off. On 21st August 2017, Balfour Beatty announced that it had now been awarded that very contract from under Costain’s nose. Today Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie said this on the matter: “Costain continues to undertake a number of enabling works contracts at Hinkley Point C. However, the group will cease its involvement in the marine works contract at Hinkley Point C following completion of a further circa £20m of existing obligations, anticipated to be concluded by the end of December 2017. Since Costain announced its initial appointment in October 2013, there was a significant delay in the approval for Hinkley Point C. While Costain has worked closely with EDF through the £40m of early contractor involvement phase to date, it was not possible to reach agreement on the final terms and conditions for the overall completion of the works.”
Construction Index 23rd Aug 2017 read more »
A ROYAL Navy bomb squad was in action for the second time in eight days last Wednesday as it detonated another bomb found in the sea near Hinkley Point. The 250lb Second World War device, discovered by divers checking the seabed before the construction of cooling water tunnels for the power station, was half the size of the bomb that Navy experts successfully detonated on August 8, as reported in last week’s Free Press. As before, the bomb was ringed by a one kilometre exclusion zone and the area was off-limits for shipping for 24 hours.
West Somerset Free Press 22nd Aug 2017 read more »
