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March 9, 2026
Thames Water has launched procurement to appoint contractors for the £5.7bn Abingdon Reservoir project in Oxfordshire. The scheme covers construction of a new strategic water reservoir and associated infrastructure, with the utility seeking delivery partners ahead of main works later this decade.
Additionally, they have awarded Kier Infrastructure a major works contract worth up to £280 million to upgrade the Maple Lodge Sewage Treatment Works.
Work is scheduled to run from the 1st of April 2026 to the 29th of March 2030. Kier will deliver extensive treatment and infrastructure improvements to raise effluent quality, increase storm capacity and help meet tougher regulatory standards.
Finally, the company has also awarded an £80m contract to a joint venture between Ferrovial Construction and Cadagua to upgrade the Slough Sewage Treatment Works.
The work will expand treatment capacity, improve removal of ammonia and phosphorus to meet stricter Environment Agency standards, enhance storm-flow management and install new power and standby systems to boost resilience and environmental performance.
Scottish Water has confirmed the preferred bidders to work with it on a multi-billion-pound enterprise to transform its water and wastewater infrastructure from 2027 to 2033, with a possible six-year extension.
Stantec and AECOM have been named as Primary Designers, and M Group Water, Mott MacDonald Bentley, Farrans Limited, WGM Engineering and Ross-Shire Engineering have been selected as Asset Delivery Partners under the largest procurement in Scottish Water’s history.
The Enterprise will cover around a third of Scottish Water’s Strategic Review 27 capital investment programme, with completion anticipated by March 2026 ahead of delivery work starting.
In the US, the City of Suffolk, Virginia awarded Jacobs two contracts to support major water infrastructure improvement programmes. The work includes programme management and engineering services to expand water treatment, transmission and distribution capacity to support future growth.
The New Hospital Programme has appointed 10 contractors to its £37bn Hospital 2.0 Alliance Framework for building new hospitals across England.
Selected firms are Bovis Construction, Dragados, Integrated Health Projects (Sir Robert McAlpine/VINCI), John Graham Construction, Kier Construction, Laing O’Rourke, Morgan Sindall, Sacyr UK, and Willmott Dixon.
Network Rail has awarded a joint venture of Arcadis and AtkinsRéalis a five-year programme partner framework worth up to £100m to support delivery of the £10.7bn TransPennine Route Upgrade.
The JV will provide programme management, project controls, risk management, data analytics and commercial support.
Network Rail has also awarded Colas Rail UK’s Freight division a three-year contract to provide “Thunderbird” rescue and recovery locomotive services on the East Coast Main Line between London and Newcastle, with the option to extend for up to a further three years.
Under the deal, two Class 67 locomotives will be based at Newark Northgate Sidings to deliver dedicated 24/7 rescue support for passenger and freight operators.
The UK government has confirmed £1.1bn of funding to revive development work on Northern Powerhouse Rail, supporting the next stage of design and planning for east-west rail improvements across the North of England.
The funding will be used to progress route development, engineering and land work, with no construction contracts awarded at this stage.
The UK and Welsh Governments have agreed a long-term rail investment plan for Wales, backing a pipeline of 43 schemes estimated at up to £14bn under Transport for Wales’ vision.
The package confirms seven new stations – including Magor and Undy, Llanwern and Cardiff East – with £90m allocated over four years to progress five south-east Wales schemes, and further funding for Cardiff Central, South Wales Relief Lines and North Wales upgrades.
Individual contract awards and delivery partners have not yet been announced.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland has appointed several consultancies, including Turner & Townsend, Amey, AECOM, and Linesight, to its Commercial Services Framework.
The four-year framework will provide commercial, cost management and advisory services across TII’s national roads and transport infrastructure programmes.
Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland Railways have jointly awarded Stadler Rail a contract worth €650 million to supply a new fleet to replace the existing Dublin-Belfast Enterprise trainsets.
Delivery of the first units is scheduled to begin in 2028, with entry into passenger service from 2030, replacing the current locomotive-hauled stock.
W.H. Davis has been awarded a €23 million contract by Iarnród Éireann to design and manufacture 68 new infrastructure maintenance wagons, replacing much of the existing fleet that is over 50 years old.
HS2 has appointed a joint venture of Ayesa Engineering and Egis to provide specialist design and engineering services on the track systems scope of the HS2 project, supporting the Ferrovial BAM Joint Venture on key sections of the main line between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street.
SYSTRA Denmark has won a new consultancy contract from Copenhagen Metro operator Metroselskabet for the extension of the M4 metro line to the North, continuing its long-term partnership on Copenhagen’s metro network.
Under the award, SYSTRA will provide land and regulatory advisory services, working with local firm Vanovis to support delivery of the new 1.6 km elevated section and two stations at Ydre Nordhavn - Levantkaj and Nordsø Plads, scheduled to open in 2030.
Colas Rail UK has been awarded a series of major infrastructure contracts through its role as Principal Contractor in the Midland Metro Alliance, securing a continuous pipeline of light rail work on the West Midlands Metro network through to 2028.
The deals include Phase 2 of the Birmingham Eastside Extension, which will tie into the future HS2 Curzon Street station and support local regeneration, and Phase 2 of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension, featuring complex engineering works. The company will also expand stabling capacity and upgrade facilities at the Wednesbury depot to support a growing tram fleet.
Transport for London has awarded Indra Group a contract to operate and maintain its Oyster and contactless ticketing systems. The deal covers the day-to-day running and support of fare payment services across TfL’s transport network.
They have also awarded M Group Transport (Rail and Aviation) a £119m bridges and civil structures maintenance contract to deliver planned preventative and reactive maintenance across TfL’s portfolio of bridges and civil assets. The five-year deal starts 1 April 2026 with an option to extend up to three more years until March 2034.
The scope excludes trackside works and covers protective coatings, vegetation management, tunnel and girder repairs, cable post interventions, inspection planning and reactive fault response to support network safety and reliability.
Northern Trains has awarded Telent a three-year station maintenance contract to provide specialist support and upkeep for over 12,000 station information and security systems across its network of more than 500 stations in the North of England.
Transport for NSW has let further major contracts on the Sydney Metro West programme. The MetroVista consortium, including Gamuda Engineering and Laing O’Rourke, has been awarded the Stations Package West to design and build five underground stations, while John Holland has been appointed delivery partner for the Linewide package, covering system-wide integration across stations, tunnels and rail systems.
Suburban Rail Loop Authority has awarded the A$6.7bn Linewide package on Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East to the Terra Verde consortium, comprising Acciona, Ghella and John Holland.
The contract covers system-wide works including rail systems, tunnels integration and stations interfaces across the new orbital railway. The package is a major component of the SRL East programme now moving into delivery.
National Highways has appointed Kier Transportation, John Graham Construction and John Sisk & Son to its £968m Legacy Concrete Roads Reconstruction Framework.
The six-year programme (2026-2032) covers the design and reconstruction of ageing concrete pavements across England’s strategic Road Network.
National Highways has also awarded two new contracts to Arcadis to provide programme and project management services under the Commercial and Project Management Services framework.
The largest covers support on roadside technology, tunnel and asset management programmes for up to six years, and the second covers contract administration, project controls and risk management on major schemes across the North West and South East of England.
Through National Highways’ Regional Delivery Partnership framework, Costain has secured a £123m contract to design and build a new M5 junction 22A in Somerset.
The scheme will provide direct access to the Gravity Smart Campus and the Agratas gigafactory, planned as the UK’s largest electric vehicle battery plant.
Works include north-facing slip roads to improve motorway connectivity and support regional economic growth.
Costain will act as delivery integration partner and main works contractor, working with WSP on design, engineering and supply chain coordination.
Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £315m, seven-year Warwickshire Highways Maintenance contract by Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council.
The deal continues the company’s long-running partnership on local highways work and runs to spring 2033, with an option to extend up to six more years.
Balfour Beatty Living Places will deliver road and streetlight maintenance across more than 5,000 km of highways and support around 160 jobs at peak.
Herefordshire Council has awarded AtkinsRéalis a five-year, £96m professional engineering services contract as sole provider for highways and infrastructure design, inspections, transport planning and related consultancy.
The deal covers multidisciplinary support across highways, active travel, bridge inspections, flood modelling and environmental work, drawing on AtkinsRéalis’ integrated service teams to support the council’s major infrastructure programmes
Leeds City Council has extended WSP’s highways and transport services contract for four years, continuing a partnership that’s run for more than two decades.
WSP will keep providing technical and consultancy support on highways maintenance, transport policy, traffic management, civil engineering design, structures, flood risk and related services to help deliver the Connecting Leeds Transport Strategy.
The extension is reported at around £12m over four years.
SSEN Transmission has awarded Linxon a £143m contract to design and build a new electricity substation on the Isle of Lewis. The project forms part of the transmission works required to connect the Stornoway Wind Farm to the national grid, supporting renewable energy generation in the Western Isles.
SSEN Distribution has appointed five contractors – Briggs Marine, DOF Subsea UK, N-Sea, Enshore Subsea and Jan De Nul - to its new £950m subsea cables investment framework to renew and upgrade the electricity links serving Scotland’s island communities.
The framework runs for an initial five years with an optional three-year extension.
Roll-Royce SMR has appointed Skanska to deliver enabling and construction works in support of its small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear programme in the UK. The contract covers early works, constructability advice and site development to support deployment of the first SMR projects.
Rolls Royce has also appointed Amentum as lead delivery partner for the proposed £2.5bn small modular reactor project at Wylfa in North Wales. Amentum will lead programme management, engineering and integration as the scheme moves through development and consenting, ahead of any final investment decision. The project forms part of Rolls-Royce SMR’s wider UK deployment programme and will be delivered alongside existing partners, Turner & Townsend, Mace Consult, Hochtief and Unipart.
Great British Nuclear has appointed WSP and Mott MacDonald to a £25m contract to provide technical support and advisory services for the proposed new nuclear project at Wylfa in Anglesey.
The consultants will support site assessment, environmental studies and development work to progress the scheme through planning and regulatory stages.
Sizewell C has appointed Jacobs to support delivery of the £51bn nuclear power station in Suffolk. Jacobs will provide programme and construction management services, working within the project’s integrated delivery team to support construction delivery and project controls as the scheme progresses.
Heathrow Airport has appointed Turner & Townsend and AtkinsRéalis to a programme and project management services framework supporting its proposed airport expansion. The consultants will provide programme controls, project management and advisory services for expansion planning and delivery.
The framework will support development of Heathrow’s third runway and wider infrastructure programme.
Manchester Airport Group have appointed Mott MacDonald, in partnership with CPC Project Services (CPC) to the airport’s new Capital Investment Consultancy Framework. This partnership secures a role in delivering one of the UK’s most significant capital investment programme, supporting the transformation of terminal facilities, airside and landside infrastructure, operational systems, and sustainability-led upgrades.
British Airways has appointed Kier to its new Tier 1 contractor framework to support delivery of the airline’s multi-million-pound “Better Buildings” programme.
The framework runs for three years with an option to extend by two years and will primarily support upgrades across the BA’s UK estate, focused on Heathrow. Works are expected to include estate infrastructure and operational asset upgrades.
Has your company been awarded one of these contracts? Email me at jn@newsomconsulting.com to discuss how we can support your senior leadership team.
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