Laing O Rourke signs £195m construction contract for Soho Place

Construction contracts of £195m have been exchanged between Derwent London plc and Laing O’Rourke for the Soho Place, Tottenham Court Road W1 development.

Soho Place is a mixed-use scheme above the new Tottenham Court Road Crossrail Station. It will comprise of a 10-storey building with retail and office space, coupled with a nine storey building split into three office floors above a 600 seat theatre, the first to be built in the West End of London for over 50 years.

Appointed preferred bidder in July 2018, Laing O’Rourke has been delivering enabling works for the project. Today marks the official start of main construction with the team concentrating on some challenging piling above and around the web of services and tube lines that sit below the site. The development is due for completion in November 2021.

Liam Cummins, Head of UK Building for Laing O’Rourke said:
“We look forward to delivering Soho Place, further strengthening our partnership with Derwent London. This will be a landmark project, sitting at 1 Oxford Street, and interconnected with the Crossrail upgrades to Tottenham Court Road, which we are also delivering.

“Laing O’Rourke has the ability to drive certainty into the delivery programme through our in-house capabilities along with a fully integrated supply chain and advanced digital engineering and offsite manufacturing. The project is in total alignment with our 2025 mission to be the recognised leader of innovation and excellence in the construction industry.”

Richard Baldwin, Head of Development of Derwent London, said:
“We are very excited about the prospects for Soho Place, which will be a great building in one of the best locations in London. We are also very pleased to be working with Laing O’Rourke, who we believe have the capabilities to deal with the complexity of the site.”

Laing O’Rourke is currently delivering Derwent London’s 16-storey Brunel Building, an office development in London, due for completion spring 2019.