Atkins India and Atkins Asia Pacific tighten their grip

Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing' and Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' have swapped places in positions 3 and 4, but the others in the top 5 places remain where they were, with Atkins India's 'Singularity' holding onto to first pace, Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' remaining in second place and Interserve's 'Beagle 2' remaining fifth. 'AECOMplete shambles' slip three places from 6th to 9th to be replaced in 6th place by Atkins India's 'Endeavour' up one place. Amazingly this gives us three Atkins India and one Atkins Asia Pacific in the top six. Confirming the strength of the Atkins presence is the Sponsors Award league table which has in first place Atkins India and in second place Atkins Asia Pacific.

On the move are Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' up from 12th to 7th and only 45 points outside the top six. Should they make the final it will be the first time for a team from the USA. Also Arup's 'COMAP(Cardiff Office Multidisciplinary Arup People)' are up from 15th to 8th and only 97 points off the top six (No prizes for a snappy team name.) It looks like Arup are making a serious push to defend the success they've enjoyed in recent years. Arup lie third in the Sponsors league table a prize they have won twice before.

With the average movement this period being 12.5% and the top half of the table still tightly bunched it is too early to say who will be in the final. There were big movements from Mott MacDonald's 'Team Loco, Tracking success, Signalling failure EST. 2K15' (another snappy team name!) as well as Atkins India's 'The Hexaguns' and AURECON's 'CONSTRUCTICONS'. AURECON have featured in two finals in the recent past and with a final push may well do so again.

Over thirty teams had gains in excess of 15% so the top six are not yet home and clear. The psychology is interesting the leading teams tend to get a) twitchy and b) cautious this gives opportunities for those in the chasing pack with flair and courage to catch them.

If the team's strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last opportunity to do so. It's time for a serious review of the strategy you've been following to determine what changes in the next three rounds will yield the biggest gains. It's time to take some decisions that earlier you might have considered as risky. This is when leadership and disciplined decision making should show its value.

The Sponsors Award league table is a tight affair the top three Atkins India, Atkins Asia Pacific and Arup are closely followed by Mott MacDonald, AECOM, AURECON, EM Highway Services and Interserve all above 3,000 points. It is important for all teams no matter where they are ranked in the main league table to improve their position as this will contribute to the ranking in the Sponsors Award.

This competition is reaching the exciting stage.

Preliminary results, subject to change.