Contractor trio bags £550m roads job

A consortium made up of Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try has reached financial close on a £550m project to upgrade roads around Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland.

The consortium was appointed as the preferred bidder in June to finance, design build and operate the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty Project, which has been described by Carillion chief executive, Richard Howson as the largest of its kind to date in Scotland.

The clients are Transport Scotland, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, and the project is being procured under the Non-Profit Distribution model, the Scottish Government’s version of PFI.

Each member of the consortium is expects to invest up to £20m of equity in the project and to have a one third share of the construction revenue. 

Work commences immediately and is expected to be completed in winter 2017. The project includes designing and constructing 58 km of new dual carriageway. The contract also includes constructing 40 km of new side roads, 30 km of access tracks and more than 100 new structures, including two bridges over the rivers Dee and Don.

The route will be managed and maintained by the consortium, which will be known as Aberdeen Roads Limited, for 30 years.

Howson said: “The project is firmly in line with Carillion’s selective approach to construction, namely of focusing on large, high quality projects, notably those involving integrated solutions.”