Balfour Beatty and Carillion win A14 upgrade contract

LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Highways England has selected Balfour Beatty's 50:50 joint venture with Carillion to upgrade a section of the A14 - a contract worth £292m. The two FTSE 250-listed infrastructure groups will deliver a package to upgrade the A14 between Swavesey and Milton as part of the wider A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme.

Works include the widening of existing road sections between Swavesey to Girton, including the Girton Junction with the M11 Motorway and the Cambridge Northern Bypass.

It's the second construction joint venture to be appointed to the overall scheme, to which the government has pledged a £1.5 billion investment and is subject to statutory approval.

Balfour Beatty said it will work with all parties to input to the design and pre-construction planning with the company's group chief executive - Leo Quinn - describing the assignment as "a complex project." "Our joint venture brings proven expertise and experience in working as part of an integrated delivery model - something which is going to be crucial for the successful delivery of this project. The improvements the scheme will deliver will help to relieve congestion on one of the busiest parts of the strategic road network between the Midlands and East Anglia and support national and regional economic growth," he added. Main construction work is due to start in late 2016, with the new bypass and widened A14 opening to traffic in 2020.