Skip to main content

Mott MacDonald Sweco JV to design part of A96 dualling, Scotland

A Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture has been appointed by Transport Scotland to carry out route option assessment and detailed design work for dualling of the A96 highway between Hardmuir and Fochabers. The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of Inverness and Aberdeen. In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure i
June 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A 2579 Mott MacDonald and 3392 Sweco joint venture has been appointed by 4068 Transport Scotland to carry out route option assessment and detailed design work for dualling of the A96 highway between Hardmuir and Fochabers.

The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of  Inverness and Aberdeen.

In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure investment over the coming decades.

The plan noted that dualling 86 miles of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, by 2030, was a key investment. The Hardmuir to Fochabers section of the road consists mainly of single-lane carriageway through or close to various towns and villages that suffered regular traffic bottlenecks.

The joint venture will begin design and assessment work that could take up to two years to complete. There will be a number of grade separated junctions where bypasses are created for a number of communities, such as Forres and Elgin. There will also be crossings of the River Findhorn, the River Lossie and the River Spey, as well as the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line.

Iain Scott, contract director for the Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture, said that the contract “builds on our long established collaborative relationship with Transport Scotland”.

Mott MacDonald is a €1.76 billion global management, engineering and development firm. Sweco, a Sweden-based engineering and architecture consultancy, has sales of €1.7 billion.

The joint venture was established in 2010 bringing together the broad experience of Mott MacDonald and Sweco, formerly Grontmij. The joint venture has been involved in improvement works around junction 10 of the M20 motorway in county Kent in England. It also worked on the introduction of the smart motorway on the M5 in the English Midlands.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Atkins, Jacobs and PwC to advise on RIS3
    December 27, 2022
    The three consultancies will help England’s National Highways agency develop a business plan for its third five-year Road Investment Strategy plan, RIS3.
  • Design contract for Irish motorway
    March 19, 2019
    The design contract for Ireland’s Cork to Limerick motorway connection has now been awarded. The design package is worth €15 million and is being handled jointly by Irish firm JB Barry Transportation, Swedish company Sweco and WSP based in Canada. Building the 100km stretch of the M20 motorway is expected to cost €900 million, including eight major bridges over rivers, 44 smaller bridges over roads and two bridges over rail links. The work would also include building some small river crossings as well as up
  • Mott MacDonald to advise UK’s DfT
    June 18, 2025
    Mott MacDonald will advise the UK’s DfT.
  • Highways Agency appoints Mott MacDonald for maintenance
    September 22, 2014
    In the UK Mott MacDonald has been reappointed as support service provider by the Highways Agency (HA). The agreement covers the centralised maintenance depot terminal equipment (CMDTE) system. The consultancy will manage the on-going operation of the system which supports the HA’s emergency roadside telephones (ERT) placed along the motorway and trunk road network in England. CMDTE is the back office system that monitors and records faults with approximately 7500 ERTs. The project aims to maintain syste