Sir Robert McAlpine powered its way to the top of September’s contracts league with a £500m deal to build a massive battery cell manufacturing facility in Somerset for Agratas.

This project is set to be one of the biggest of its kind and by the early 2030s will contribute almost half of the projected battery manufacturing capacity required for the automotive sector, supercharging Britain’s transition to electric mobility.

Second placed Kier was also helped by a major order in Somerset to deliver the £249m tidal barrier and flood protection scheme around the River Parrett.

10m tall Bridgwater Tidal Barrier plan between Express Park and Chilton Trinity

The main river barrier structure will consist of two large moveable gates that can be closed during very high tides.

Balfour Beatty came in the third biggest haul of orders, supported by a major power upgrade to replace the existing high-voltage electricity network between Bramford substation in Suffolk and Twinstead Tee in Essex with a new 18km, 400KV overhead line.

These two big wins for Kier and Balfour helped to close the gap on Morgan Sindall which retained its pole position for the highest value of orders secured over 12 months at an estimated £2.5bn.

According to data compiled by Barbour ABI, Kier trails Morgan Sindall by around £427m, a smaller margin than the previous 12-month rolling league table.

Overall September proved a strong month of undertaking compared to August. The tally of work won by the leading 50 contractors totted up to £4.4bn, nearly double that secured in August.

Among the other big wins in the month Laing O’Rourke sealed a deal to build a £115m cancer centre for the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Sussex Cancer Centre in Brighton

Canary Wharf Contractors booked a £115m deal to build a 23-storey ‘vertical science campus’ that will rank as Europe’s tallest purpose-built lab space at North Quay in London Docklands.

Up to 60% of the One North Quay building will be delivered as wet laboratory space and can accommodate up to level 3 laboratory containment

Mace won the job to overhaul an office building in Bristol at 1 Georges Square to create new technology centre for Dyson research staff.

Dyson’s new technology centre in Bristol