North firms win Scottish motorway contract

Two construction firms in the North have won a £320m (€340m) contract to build a new motorway in Scotland.

Farrans and Graham are part of a consortium that has been appointed to upgrade an 11-mile stretch of carriageway between Glasgow and Stirling.

The two companies recently completed the multi-million pound expansion of the M1/Westlink in Belfast.

Work on the A8 in Scotland is set to take two years and will commence immediately.

The project is expected to create more than 500 jobs. While Scottish workers will be employed on the site both local based firms are to bring their own workforce to the project, securing around 100 jobs in the North as a result.

Farrans and Graham make up two thirds of the Highway Management (Scotland) Ltd consortium, with the third member German company Bilfinger Berger, which was involved in the Westlink project.