Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, services and investment group, has announced that it has been awarded a contract, as part of the Interlink M74 Joint Venture, by Glasgow City Council to complete the M74 motorway in Scotland.

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering, together with its equal joint venture partners Morgan Est, Morrison Construction and Sir Robert McAlpine, will be responsible for a contract worth £445 million to design and construct an 8km extension to the M74. The extension will significantly reduce congestion on the busiest stretch of the M8 through Glasgow.

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Commenting on the award, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said: "We are delighted to be awarded this very significant civil engineering project to complete a vital part of the West of Scotland's motorway network. Balfour Beatty has a strong presence in Scotland and this award gives us an ideal opportunity to demonstrate further our well-established technical skills and strengthen our existing relationships with Transport Scotland as well as Glasgow City, South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire councils. We look forward to working closely with our joint venture partners to deliver successfully this eagerly-awaited scheme."

Interlink M74 Joint Venture will now commence the detailed design in readiness for the commencement of construction work on site in May 2008. When complete at the end of 2011, the extension will link the M74 from where it currently ends, at Fullarton Road Junction near Carmyle, to the M8 just west of the Kingston Bridge.

(CD/JM)