Skip to main content

Highways England awards €2.1 billion of upgrades for UK motorways

Highways England has today appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build 10 “smart motorways” as part of a €2.1 billion investment. Construction contractors appointed are the Balfour Beatty and VINCI joint venture, a Costain and Galliford Try joint venture, as well as a Carillion and Kier joint venture. Designers are a CHM2 and Hyder joint venture, an Amey and Arup joint venture, as well as a Jacobs and Atkins joint venture. The award is the second major procurement to be given under th
August 7, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
8100 Highways England has today appointed six joint-venture companies to design and build 10 “smart motorways” as part of a €2.1 billion investment.

Construction contractors appointed are the 1146 Balfour Beatty and 5177 VINCI joint venture, a 2319 Costain and Galliford Try joint venture, as well as a 2435 Carillion and Kier joint venture.

Designers are a CHM2 and Hyder joint venture, an 2958 Amey and 1419 Arup joint venture, as well as a 1662 Jacobs and 3005 Atkins joint venture.

The award is the second major procurement to be given under the Highways England’s Collaborative Delivery Framework. The first was the appointment of designers and contractors for the A14 road Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement which was announced in June.

The smart motorway schemes, part of the €21.3 billion government investment Highways England is delivering between now and 2021, will see 292 extra lane miles added to motorways.

The hard shoulder will be converted to a traffic lane and signing and technology will tell drivers what speed to drive at if lanes are blocked or closed and about incidents up ahead.

“We have awarded these contracts to the companies who demonstrated to us they will work together, across all the projects, not just the ones they have been awarded,” said Highways England smart motorway programme director Andy Watson. “They proved they are driven to get the best results on price, quality and on reducing impact on road users: keeping the motorways flowing while they construct these vital improvements.”

The Balfour Beatty and VINCI joint venture have won a construction package including delivery of the M5 motorway Junction 4a to Junction 6 smart motorway in Worcestershire, starting this autumn at a value of nearly €65.5 million.

They have also been appointed to construct two future schemes, one in the Midlands region and the other in London and the nearby county of Berkshire, due to start in 2016/17, at an estimated combined value of up to almost €800 million. CHM2 and Hyder joint venture have been appointed as the designers for these two future schemes, valued up to €42.6 million.

The Costain and Galliford Try joint venture has won a construction package including delivery of the M1 motorway Junction 19 to Junction 16 smart motorway in Northamptonshire, starting this autumn at a value of nearly €93 million.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Kijlstra mega-order for A1 upgrade
    February 9, 2017
    Kijlstra is supplying the A1 Leeming to Barton Improvement Scheme in the UK with one of the largest orders it has ever received for its precast square manholes. The Highways England scheme is being delivered by the Carillion Morgan Sindall joint venture. Once completed the scheme will unlock growth and boost the economy by creating a continuous motorway-standard route between London and Newcastle (including the M1 and A1M). It will also improve journey times and increase safety. As part of this proje
  • Atkins sells stake in London’s M25 ring road
    December 14, 2016
    Infrastructure engineering firm WS Atkins sold its stake in London’s M25 orbital road to a consortium of institutional investors for nearly €79 million (£66.3 million). Atkins, a publicly listed UK company, sold to Edge Orbital Holdings 2 Limited and the deal for its minority stake is expected to be complete by March 2017, the end of the financial year, according to a statement by Atkins. In October, the Edge Orbital consortium picked up Skanska’s 40% stake in Connect Plus, which manages the M25. Skanska so
  • £495 million National Highways specialist contract
    July 1, 2025
    A £495 million National Highways specialist engineering advice contract has been awarded.
  • AmeySRM awarded UK's A533 bridge work
    July 14, 2020
    Under the €23 million contract work will start early 2021 for completion in summer 2022.