Transport Scotland is tendering sub-contracts worth £70M from this week for the 58km, £745M Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty road building project.
Advertised opportunities for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) include drainage works, plant and equipment hire, earthworks, steel reinforcement and rock crushing and screening.
£121M of sub-contracts have already been advertised since August and a further £30M will go to tender in the coming months, bringing the total package to £221M.
Scotland’s Transport Minister Keith Brown said these sub-contract opportunities, which will be advertised through Public Contracts Scotland, mark the final steps prior to main construction getting under way.
“Preparatory work on Aberdeen bypass is nearing completion with full construction due to start shortly,” he said.
A ‘Connect Roads’ consortium comprising Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try was named as preferred bidder for the design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) contract to deliver the project in June this year.
Mr Brown added: “Over the next three decades, our investment in the project is expected to bring in an additional £6Bn to the north-east economy. It will also create around 14,000 new jobs, with the intention to create more than 1,000 jobs for the construction phase, including on-the-job training for apprentices and local employment opportunities. A wide range of construction jobs will also be on offer in the coming months.”
Completion of the scheme is expected in spring 2018. Main works include the design and construction of 46km of new dual carriageway and a further 12km of upgraded existing dual carriageway.
The contract also includes the construction of 40km of new side roads, 30km of access tracks and 72 new structures, including two significant focal point bridges over the rivers Dee and Don, will also be delivered as part of the scheme.
Once construction is complete, trunk road assets will be managed and maintained by Balfour Beatty on behalf of Connect Roads for 30 years.
