The transport and infrastructure sector finished 2025 with a strong pipeline of funding, frameworks and major projects. Here’s a round-up of the most notable contract wins and developments from December.
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The Department for Transport has confirmed a multi-billion road maintenance funding package worth £7.3bn for local highways across England from 2026 to 2030.
The four-year capital allocation is intended to give local authorities greater certainty to plan and carry out maintenance and improvement work on regional roads, helping address long-standing challenges such as potholes and network condition.
The long-term funding commitment follows confirmation in the 2025 Budget.
Birmingham City Council has launched a new highways and infrastructure works framework worth up to £980m, opening the deal to contractors for an eight-year programme of road, public realm and utilities projects across Birmingham and the wider Midlands.
The Highways and Infrastructure Works Framework will cover a wide range of work from minor road improvements and pedestrian or cycle-path upgrades to large-scale highway schemes, split into multiple lots to suit different project sizes.
Contracts under the framework are expected to be awarded from early 2026 and run until 2034, with local authorities and housing bodies across the region able to use the agreement.
Galliford Try has appointed Breedon Group as the surfacing contractor on the £250m A47 North Tuddenham to Easton upgrade in Norfolk, part of the National Highways improvement programme.
Breedon’s Surfacing Solutions team will supply and lay around 195,000 tonnes of asphalt for the new 9 km dual carriageway between Norwich and Dereham, aimed at improving safety and reducing congestion for road users. Work is scheduled for completion in April 2027, with all asphalt sourced from Breedon’s nearby Longwater plant to support carbon reduction goals.
Lincolnshire County Council has appointed 13 contractors to a new four-year highways framework worth up to £150m, covering road maintenance and resurfacing works across the county from 2026 to 2030.
The framework is split into three lots: general works up to £1.5m with a total value of £18m, general works between £1.5m and £6m valued at £56m, and major highway resurfacing works up to £6m worth £76m.
The appointed firms include Amalgamated Construction, Breheny Civil Engineering, C R Reynolds, Holcim UK, Tarmac and Winvic Construction, Dan Charles Construction, Fox (Owmby), PBS Construction, Danaher & Walsh (Civil Engineering), Jackson Civil Engineering, Hanson Quarry Products Europe, and Thomas Bow.
Find more information here.
Bromley Council has launched a £71m tender to re-procure its highways and street-lighting maintenance contracts across the borough.
The authority is seeking bidders for two lots covering major works and minor works to deliver routine maintenance and improvements to local roads and street-lighting infrastructure.
The tender marks a re-procurement of the council’s highways maintenance services and is open to contractors able to undertake a range of planned and reactive works.
Transport for London has named First Rail London Limited, a subsidiary of FirstGroup, as its preferred operator for the London Overground network.
The new contract is worth £3bn and will last for eight-years with an option to extend for up to two further years. It will see First Rail London take over operations from Arriva Rail London in May 2026.
Under the agreement TfL retains revenue risk and sets service levels, with FirstGroup responsible for delivering train services, station management and performance across the suburban rail network.
Transport for London (TfL) has also confirmed the extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Thamesmead following support in the UK Autumn Budget, with the scheme valued at around £1.62bn.
The 3km project will extend the existing DLR East Route from Gallions Reach via a new station at Beckton Riverside, cross the River Thames in a twin-bore tunnel and deliver a new station at Thamesmead, along with a turnback siding to support future service enhancements.
The majority of funding will be provided through TfL and Greater London Authority borrowing, with long-term government support. The project is now progressing through market engagement.
The Suburban Rail Loop Authority has awarded a major contract worth around €4.9bn for the Suburban Rail Loop East project in Melbourne to the TransitLinX Alliance. It was announced this week that Alstom was awarded a €1bn share of the contract.
The consortium, which includes Alstom, John Holland, WSP, KBR and RATP Dev, will deliver rail systems, tunnel fit-out, power and signalling works across the eastern section of the new orbital rail line connecting Cheltenham and Box Hill.
Iarnród Éireann has appointed Mott MacDonald to lead Ireland’s CONNECT rail project, a national programme to upgrade and electrify the intercity rail network.
The commission will see Mott MacDonald develop an implementation strategy and decarbonisation roadmap for key routes including Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Limerick, supporting faster, more frequent and lower-emission rail services.
The project is funded through the EU Connecting Europe Facility and Ireland’s National Development Plan and forms part of Irish Rail’s long-term RAIL2050 strategy.
Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland’s Translink have awarded Stadler a contract to supply eight new trainsets to replace the current locomotive-hauled rolling stock on the Dublin–Belfast Enterprise service.
The order covers delivery of battery-equipped bi-mode trains capable of operating on electrified and non-electrified sections, along with a long-term maintenance and support agreement. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2028 with full service entry planned for 2030, marking a major upgrade of this key cross-border rail link.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland has appointed Turner & Townsend to its Commercial Services Framework, a multi-year agreement supporting the delivery of national road, light rail, greenway and active travel programmes across Ireland.
The framework will provide commercial, cost management and advisory services to support project development and delivery across TII’s capital investment portfolio.
Arcadis Jacobs joint venture (AJJV) has been appointed as Project Independent Certifier for the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail project in South East Queensland.
They will provide independent assurance during design and construction of the rail upgrade, which includes track doubling, station improvements and level crossing removals to increase capacity and support future growth ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
SYSTRA has secured two new contracts in Chile to support delivery of commuter rail lines from Santiago to Melipilla and Santiago to Batuco.
The commissions cover detailed design work for the 61km Alameda–Melipilla line and technical inspection and project management services for the Santiago–Batuco route, supporting expansion of rail services across the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
Southern Water has awarded Kier two Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contracts worth a combined £44.4m under its £3.1bn AMP8 Strategic Delivery Partner Framework.
The first contract, valued at £19.9m, covers early-stage design and development at six wastewater treatment sites including Chickenhall (Eastleigh), Fullerton and Sellindge, aimed at increasing capacity and meeting environmental standards.
The second, worth £24.5m, covers design and planning work at six additional sites including Dambridge (Wingham), Felbridge and Tonbridge, focusing on improving ammonia, phosphorus and biochemical oxygen demand removal ahead of later construction phases.
Both packages are delivered under the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract.
Anglian Water has launched early market engagement for a new major infrastructure delivery framework worth up to £1.8bn to support its capital investment programme across the East of England.
The framework will appoint an integrated delivery partner to provide services from early contractor involvement and design through to construction, with initial projects expected to include coastal water improvements. The framework is due to start in July 2026, following supplier engagement and formal procurement in early 2026.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation has awarded GRAHAM Building a £142.1m contract to redevelop the Edinburgh defence estate, covering Dreghorn Barracks, Glencorse Barracks and the Colinton Road Reserve Centre.
The scheme forms part of the Defence Estate Optimisation programme and will deliver new and refurbished accommodation, training, office and support facilities to improve living and working conditions for Army personnel.
Construction is expected to start in early 2027 following completion of the design phase.
National Grid has awarded two major contracts for Sea Link, a proposed 140km subsea electricity connection linking Kent and Suffolk to strengthen the UK’s power transmission network.
Siemens Energy has been appointed to deliver the project’s converter stations, while Sumitomo Electric Industries will supply the high-voltage cable running predominantly offshore between Pegwell Bay in Kent and the Suffolk coast.
Sea Link forms part of National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade programme and is currently under consideration by the Planning Inspectorate following submission of a development consent application in March.
Associated British Ports has launched a new £42m capital investment package to upgrade its five South Wales ports, including a new deep-water berth at Middle Quay in Newport, the UK’s largest steel-handling port, and infrastructure improvements at Swansea and Cardiff.
The investment forms part of a wider £137m programme aimed at strengthening port resilience and competitiveness, increasing handling capacity and supporting regional trade and supply chains.
Additionally, Associated British Ports and Stena Line have begun delivery of the new Immingham Eastern Ro-Ro Terminal, a joint investment of more than £200m to increase freight capacity at the Port of Immingham.
Dragados has been awarded the design and build contract for the terminal and associated marine and landside works, with TYPSA supporting the scheme as design partner to Dragados UK & Ireland as construction gets under way.
The Department for Education has named the contractor line up for its new £15.4bn Construction Framework 2025, a long-term agreement to deliver education building works including new schools, colleges and refurbishment schemes across England.
Find a full list of the successful firms here.
Laing O'Rourke and AECOM have been appointed as delivery partners for the £3.5bn Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues infrastructure programme, supporting the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority in planning, contracting and delivering the full suite of 17 new and upgraded sports and event venues.
The joint delivery partner role will help coordinate design, procurement and construction activities across the venues programme as part of the wider £7.1bn capital works plan for the Games infrastructure.
The Scottish Government has granted an extension to its £600m civil engineering framework covering national public works, allowing continued call-offs under the agreement that runs through March 2028. The four-year multi-supplier framework supports a wide range of civil engineering contracts from general works to major structural projects across Scotland.
Eight firms were appointed across the three lots: Amalgamated Construction, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering, Farrans Construction, Galliford Try, Graham, Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure, RJ McLeod Contractors and Taziker Industrial.
The framework enables public bodies to procure civil engineering work valued between £5m and £100m via direct call-offs as required.
