Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke and Bouygues Travaux Publics have signed a Programme Alliance Agreement with Sizewell C to deliver the main civil works at the new nuclear power station in Suffolk.
The three companies have formed the Sizewell C Civil Works Alliance (CWA) to deliver a broad scope of works, including the enabling works, tunnelling and marine operations, main civil works, and associated ancillary works.
The three companies are all currently working at Hinkley Point C and have played a key role in relaunching nuclear construction in the UK. The companies say that Sizewell C, as a near replica project, will gain from CWA’s vast experience, skills and strong delivery culture.
Sizewell C joint managing director Nigel Cann said the agreement would ensure the civils programme would be delivered by three companies with deep experience of building to the highest nuclear standards.
“Hinkley Point C has done the heroic work to restart our industry and is seeing big improvements between the construction of reactor Unit 1 and Unit 2. With our CWA partners, we will continue that progress at Sizewell C so that we deliver the best value for consumers and build a project Britain can be proud of,” he said.
The CWA is organised so that Sizewell C is fully embedded in the Alliance as client participant. It will operate a Target Outturn Cost (TOC) contract model to keep control of costs and to foster transparency, collaboration and efficiency.
Balfour Beatty Group chief executive Leo Quinn said Sizewell C was a critical investment in Britain’s energy security and net zero future.
“As a trusted delivery partner with a strong track record in complex nuclear infrastructure, we are proud to be bringing background knowledge and experience from Hinkley Point C to this critical national infrastructure project alongside our alliance partners,” he said.
Preliminary construction work at Sizewell C began in January 2024 and since then the project has achieved its early milestones on time and on budget. Sizewell C is expected to employ 7,900 people on site during peak construction and will support tens of thousands of jobs in the UK supply chain.
In June, the government said Sizewell C would be part of a “golden age” of new nuclear and confirmed £14.2bn of investment in the project over the next five years. A Final Investment Decision which will announce the private investors helping to fund the project is expected later in the summer.
