Kier was the biggest construction supplier to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the latest financial year, as the department’s spending ramped up, Construction News can reveal.
The contractor, which was also its top construction supplier in 2020/21, as well as in both the 2019 and 2020 calendar years, returned to the top of the client’s spending list, having dropped to 12th in 2022/23.
Among its work for the department in 2023/24 was a £100m houseblock at Elmley prison in Kent. Alongside Laing O’Rourke and Wates, it also landed a £225m contract in August 2023 to provide 1,200 new prison places.
During the year, it continued to build the zero-carbon HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire, and worked on the Accelerated Houseblock Delivery Programme, also alongside Wates.
MoJ spending rose in the year as the department sought to increase the number of available prison spaces, and it spent at least £900,000 on remediating the lifetime-expired material RAAC, which was present in at least four of its jails.
Kier was paid £294m by the government department, according to a Freedom of Information response – a huge increase on top supplier ISG’s pay of £94.5m the year before.
In 2023/24, ISG was the second-largest supplier and was paid £145.9m for the work it carried out.
CN revealed in January that the contractor had been selected to build HMP Grendon, a £300m prison in Buckinghamshire.
It also landed two jobs in March, to upgrade HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset and HMP Liverpool, which were worth a combined £135m.
Galliford Try was the third-biggest supplier, earning just under £67.5m. Its total was marginally more than that of fourth-placed Wates.
The pair were among those appointed to the MoJ’s £2.5bn constructor-services framework in March 2023.
Galliford Try was also awarded a £95m contract to expand Rye Hill prison in Warwickshire in January 2023.
The department’s spending on modular construction rose during the year, with specialist Reds10 earning £32.8m and Algeco reaping £31.1m, putting them in sixth and seventh place respectively among the biggest suppliers.
| Position | Supplier name (2023/24) | Amount |
| 1 | Kier | £293,969,541 |
| 2 | ISG | £145,871,304 |
| 3 | Galliford Try | £67,459,814 |
| 4 | Wates | £67,447,166 |
| 5 | Vinci | £54,703,804 |
| 6 | Reds10 | £32,795,390 |
| 7 | Algeco | £31,112,835 |
| 8 | Lendlease | £27,803,709 |
| 9 | Extra Space | £20,731,511 |
| 10 | Tilbury Douglas | £16,454,964 |
| 11 | Laing O’Rourke | £6,137,175 |
| 12 | Henry Boot | £4,093,839 |
