Skanska has signed a £143m contract to deliver an improvement scheme on M42 Junction 6 under Highways England's new Regional Delivery Partnership (RDP) procurement.
Around £8.7bn of work is expected to be parcelled out from now until 2024 under the RDP frameworks.
Until now, Highways England has procured work on a scheme by scheme basis. Launched in 2018, the RDP approach has been designed to provide a more secure works pipeline and 'start a long-overdue transformation within the infrastructure construction sector'.
The contracts also aim to incentivise companies to improve journeys on Highways England roads and use local suppliers.
Skanska's five-year project will see a comprehensive upgrade of Junction 6 of the M42 near Birmingham Airport, a strategically important scheme identified in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy in 2014.
Skanska will lead the project working in close collaboration with design partner Mott MacDonald and customer Highways England.
The Swedish firm said its 'efforts towards transitioning to an enterprise state and its portfolio delivery approach' were key to it securing the role having won Delivery Integration Partner places on RDP frameworks in the East and the Midlands regions.
Mott McDonald has already begun working on the M42 project, with construction set to start this year.
The scheme is designed to improve access to key businesses and locations including Birmingham Airport, support economic growth in the area and improve access for cyclists, walkers, and other vulnerable users of the network.
As well as the highways deal, £101m will be invested by Highways England to purchase land and carry out vital utilities work.
Glennan Blackmore, Highways Director at Skanska, said: 'This is the first Regional Delivery Partnership contract we’ve entered into and we are very excited to be working with Highways England to deliver this key upgrade.
'Highways England have been developing plans to improve this link for a long time and we are delighted to be helping them realise their ambition, which we hope will benefit the public enormously.'
Highways England senior project manager, Jonathan Pizzey, said the scheme would allow 'better movement of traffic on and off the A45, supporting access to the airport and preparing capacity for the new High Speed Two station'.
