10. Laing O’Rourke
The British-based company is young compared to some of its fellow top-tenners, but has quickly expanded, working on several high-profile projects in the last decade, including Ascot Racecourse and Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. Oversees it is currently involved in the huge Al Raha beach development in Abu Dhabi.
9. Royal BAM Group
Founded in 1886 in Holland, the company built Ajax football club’s Amsterdam Arena in its native Netherlands in 1996. Bataafsche Aanneming Maatschappij, from which the company abbreviates its name, translates as Batavian Construction Company for Construction and Concrete Projects. Around 27,000 people work for the group.
8. Kiewit
Nebraska-based Kiewit is unique within this list in that it is owned by its employees, meaning almost all its projects are staffed by shareholders. The company was named number three in Engineering News-Record’s Top 400 Contractors of 2013.
7. Bouygues Construction
The French company employs more than 130,000 people in 80 different countries. In the mid 1990s it expanded into telecoms, which became another major revenue stream. Its subsidiary, Colas Group, specialises in road construction and rail track construction.
6. Balfour Beatty
The multinational was founded in 1909 by George Balfour and Andrew Beatty. Headquartered in London, the company is currently an integral part of the Crossrail project in the UK capital. It operates in more than 80 countries around the world and employs some 40,000 people.
5. Skanska
Based in Sweden, the multinational operates in the residential, commercial, residential and infrastructure sectors. In the US, the company is known for constructing the Meadowland Sports Complex, home to the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants. Skanska employs more than 50,000 people.
4. Hochtief
Focusing on infrastructure projects, the German company operates in the US through its Turner subsidiary. Hochtief employs around 80,000 people and celebrates its 140th anniversary this year. Spanish contractor Grupo ACS has owned a majority stake in the company of 50.16 percent since 2011.
3. Bechtel
The largest US contractor has worked on such high-profile projects as the Hoover Dam completed back in 1936, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline system in the ‘70s and more recently the ‘Big Dig’ Central Artery project finished in 2007. The company employs more than 53,000 people around the world.
2. Grupo ACS
The Spanish contractor was formed in 1997 through the merger of two other construction companies. It has grown through several high-profile acquisitions including that of Hochtief. The company has worked on the Alqueva Dam in Portugal and Torre de Cristal and Torre Espacio skyscrapers in its home country.
1 Vinci
The 115 year-old French giant reports the largest revenues of any privately-owned construction company in the world, a position it has achieved through shrewd acquisitions and effective delivery of high-profile, large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Gariep Dam in South Africa, completed in 1971 and the Stade de France. The arena was built for the 1998 football World Cup, and now serves as France’s national Stadium.
Operating worldwide, the Group employs more than 183,000 people according to the last available figures (from 2011).
The Group is currently working on the €440 million express-lane highway system in Atlanta, Georgia and the Wheatstone Liquefied Natural Gas Project in Australia.
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