EDF names £1.3bn Hinkley winners

EDF Energy has announced several preferred bidders for £1.3bn worth of contracts on its Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

Mace and Laing O’Rourke were among the winners as EDF readies its supply chain for the mammoth project - although the energy giant warned it is yet to make a final investment decision on the scheme.

As revealed by Building earlier this month, a Balfour Beatty and NG Bailey joint venture has won an M&E package worth at least £500m to provide electrical cabling and equipment installation.

Laing O’Rourke has secured a deal to build the campus for workers’ accommodation, while Mace, Jacobs and Turner and Townsend are among the firms to have won project management contracts.

Mace will provide contract management services, while Jacobs will provide project management for the building and civils works.

T&T has won a deal to become the sole provider of project controls for the proposed power plant, and is also preferred supplier on a framework providing project management and NEC contract management services for the programme.

It is now estimated that more than 60% of the construction cost on the project will be with UK firms, 3% higher than the original estimate.

EDF had originally hoped to make a final investment decision on the Hinkley plant by the end of 2012, but this has been repeatedly delayed.

Energy secretary Amber Rudd told MPs earlier this month there was a “very good prospect” of EDF making a decision this year, and added that an ongoing legal challenge against UK state aid for Hinkley by Austria under EU law was not expected to affect this decision being taken.

Hinkley Point C is expected to provide 7% of the UK’s electricity needs when operational, and is set to provide 25,000 jobs over seven years on-site during construction, around 1,000 of which will be apprenticeships.