One round to go, the tension is rising

The top five all held their places, Mott MacDonald' 'Strike while the iron is Mott' is still in first followed by Atkins India's 'Singularity', Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing', Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' and Interserve's 'Beagle 2'. The change in the top six is that Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' come in at sixth replacing Hyder's 'Alpha Engineers' who slip to ninth. This is the first time since the seventh round that an Arup team have been in the top six. Then it was 'Arup infrastructure London Group II' who are now in tenth place.

Examining the percentage improvements we see 12% around the top level with 2% around the bottom. The difference gives the range of relative movement that we see. This would suggest that the top three are reasonably safe. Of course they could do something daft and reduce their points score and let others overtake them. The rest are more easily catchable so the final six aren't yet settled.

AECOM's '3038 Construction' have risen four places to seventh, Aurecon's 'Go Big' have risen seven places to eighth, Aurecon's 'CONSTRUCTIONS' up five to eleventh and AECOM's 'AECOM and get some' up nine places to fifteenth. These movements represent momentum and similar gains in the next round (the final round of the Early Years) would see them in the top six.

You can feel the tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions are likely to change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit of a top place.

Preliminary results, subject to change.