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

  • Supporting the highways sector during the pandemic
    April 20, 2020
    The Highways sector Council is supporting the highways sector during the pandemic.
  • Colas drives measures to improve safety in Area 7 workzones
    December 11, 2015
    A pilot scheme in the United Kingdom by Colas and Solar and Electric Gates (S&EG) is using a new automatic gate to help protect operatives in Area 7 work zones. The Readi-Guard has been developed for the joint venture A-one+, led by infrastructure contractor Costain. Colas and S&EG joined forces to engineer the gate system, which opens horizontally to allow authorised vehicles into work areas. It safeguards workers because manual gate operation is not required. “The TM Access Gate is a well thought
  • More tenders for the Lower Thames Crossing
    April 2, 2021
    The winners will build 23km of road connecting to what will be the UK’s longest road tunnel.
  • Highways England starts moving on projects for the eastern region
    September 30, 2015
    Highways England has met suppliers and stakeholders to discuss how it will spend more than €2.7 billion to improve roads across the East of England region in the next six years. The work is part of the government’s Road Investment Strategy to triple levels of spending on England’s roads by the end of the decade. Plans include major improvements on the M11, A5 and M1, A1(M), A12, A14, A47 and A428. Roads minister Andrew Jones said the investment is the largest in a generation.