Holding by Royal Bank of Scotland

Costain Group PLC
13 April 2000


DEALINGS BY SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDERS


1)   NAME OF COMPANY

     Costain Group PLC

2)   NAME OF SHAREHOLDER HAVING A MAJOR INTEREST

       The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

3)   Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of 
     holding of the Shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a 
     non-beneficial interest or in the case of an individual holder if it is a
     holding of that person's spouse or children under the age of 18

     See below

4)   Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the 
     number of shares held by each of them.

     Fielding Nominees Limited.

5)   Number of shares/amount of stock acquired.

     N/A

6)   ( N/A %) of issued Class

7)   Number of shares/amount of stock disposed

     2500

8) (0.00074%) of issued Class

9)   Class of security

     Ordinary Shares

10)  Date of transaction

     10  April 2000

11)  Date company informed

     12 April 2000

12)  Total holding following this notification

     294,506,116
               
              
13)  Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification

     87%

14)  Any additional information

     The figure in box 12 includes 72,307,521 shares which are counted twice
     by virtue of one party to a Section 204 Agreement holding options to 
     purchase shares held by other parties to that agreement.

15)  Name of contact and telephone number for queries

     C L Franks   01628  842575

16)  Name and signature of authorised company official responsible for 
     making this notification

     Date of Notification ...13 April 2000


Letter to :Addressees as per schedule below

PART VI of the Companies Act 1985 (the 'Act')

This letter constitutes notification under Part VI of the Act and relates to
ordinary share capital of Costain Group PLC (the 'Company').

This notification relates, inter alia, to interests which arise under certain
Agreements dated 10th October 1997 made between the Company, certain
subsidiaries of the Company and the parties whose names appear in the schedule
below.  The agreement constitutes an agreement to which section 204 of the Act
applies (the 'Section 204 Agreement').

We hereby give you notice under Part VI of the Act that we are interested in
294,056,116 ordinary shares of 10p each in the capital of the Company
('Shares').

The identities of the registered holders of the Shares to which this
notification relates and the number of Shares held by each are as set out in the
Schedule of shareholdings below.

Of the interest shown 100,727 shares are not material interests under Section
199 of the Act.  However, in addition there are a further 205,445 shares in
which the NatWest Group has a material and non material interest.


                               COSTAIN GROUP PLC

                   Schedule of shareholdings of the Participating
                                  Banks

Name of registered        Number      Number of such        Number of such
holder                   of shares  Shares in which the   Shares in which the
                                      Interest arises       interest is a       
                                     by virtue of the      section 208(5)       
                                    Section 204           interest.
                                          Agreement

Banco Santander SA        1,366,609      1,306,024                     NIL

Bankers Trust Company       413,085        413,085                     NIL

KAS Nominees Designated 
  Account 1030              323,830        323,830                     NIL

Banco Santander SA              468      1,325,468                     NIL

Chase Nominees Ltd 
 A/C SO 2196              2,334,974      2,334,974                     NIL

Cargill Financial 
 Markets Plc              1,006,297      1,006,297                     NIL

Bank of America Int Ltd     463,450          NIL                       NIL

Bank of America NT&SA     5,551,470      5,551,470                     NIL

Bank of America NT&SA
(Special Assets Group)    5,322,542      5,322,542                     NIL

Citibank International 
                   plc    1,165,331      1,044,333                 522,167

Ranelagh Nominees Ltd    10,647,000      9,734,704                     NIL

Lloyd Bank (PEP 
 Nominees) Ltd               12,483           NIL                      NIL

Lloyds Private Banking
 (Isle of Man)Ltd               948           NIL                      NIL

Natwest FIS Nominees
 Ltd                            416           NIL                      NIL

CNW Nominees Ltd         12,720,273    11,556,292                      NIL

Bank of New York 
 Nominees Ltd                86,630           NIL                      NIL

BNY GIL Client
 A/C Nominees Ltd            205,445           NIL                     NIL

Standard Chartered
 Nominees Ltd J A/C        4,097,553     3,694,468                     NIL

Daedalus Projects Ltd    125,354,541    42,500,000                     NIL

Raymond Internation
 WLL                      25,562,500       562,500                     NIL

Skanska Invest AB         97,870,021    25,562,500               72,307,521

Glencairn Nominees
 Ltd                             250           NIL                     NIL 

         TOTALS          294,506,116   112,238,487               72,829,688



                                   SCHEDULE

               Names and addresses of parties to the Section 204 Agreement

C L Franks
Costain Group Plc
Costain House
Nicholsons Walk
Maidenhead
Berkshire SL6 1LN

Costain Engineering Services Inc.
249 East Main Street
Lexington
Kentucky 40507
USA

Costain Dubai LLC
PO Box 2526
Dubai
UAE

Costain Homes Holdings Inc
620 Newport Center Drive
Suite 400
Newport Beach
California 92660

Raymond International WLL
PO Box 5063
Manama
Bahrain

Daedalus Projects Ltd
5th floor
Anglo International House
North Quay
Douglas
Isle of Man

Intria Berhad
15th Floor
Wisma Denmark
86 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur

Banco Santander SA
100 Ludgate Hill
London EC4M 7RE

Bankers Trust Company
c/o Robert Foulston/Julian Nichols
1 Appold Street
Broadgate
London EC2A 2HE

Bankers Trust International
c/o Robert Foulston/Julian Nichols
1 Appold Street
Broadgate
London EC2A 2HE

Bank of America NT & SA (Loan Trading Group)
c/o Iain Gunn/John Cole
1 Alie Street
London E1 8DE

Bank of America NT & SA (Special Assets Group)
c/o Jaap Dutry
26 Elmfield Road
Bromley
Kent BR1 1WA

Citibank NA
c/o Jamie Evans
Global Loans
Victoria Plaza
111 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W OSB

Skanska Invest AB
S-182-25 Danderyd
Sweden

Lloyds Bank Plc
c/o Stephen Hails/Philip Lampshire
St Georges House
6-8 Eastcheap
London EC3M 1LL

Standard Chartered Bank Plc
c/o Neil McCowley/Bob Graham
1st Floor
St Clements House
27 Clements Lane
London EC4N 7AE

R J Hopkins
Share Disclosure
National Westminster Bank
Level 15
Drapers Gardens
12 Throgmorton Avenue
London EC2N 2DL