Valued at £500 million, the Scape Civil Engineering - Scotland framework will operate for a total of four years and will provide direct access for any public sector organisation to a principal contractor for civil engineering and infrastructure projects with values between £50,000 and £100m+.

Scape has created a new framework to support delivery of the significant pipeline of infrastructure projects across Scotland. With the Scottish Government committing to £4 billion of infrastructure projects in 2018/19 alone, Scape said the framework will unlock capacity for rapid commissioning and delivery of projects.

The appointment forms part of the procurement of Scape’s next generation civil engineering frameworks, valued at a combined total of £2.1bn and covering the whole of the UK. Balfour Beatty has also been appointed to lead the Scape National Civil Engineering framework, valued at £1.6bn and covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As direct award frameworks, they will each be led by Balfour Beatty and delivered with essential sub-contracting through extensive local supply chains.

The two new frameworks will replace the existing Scape National Civil Engineering and Infrastructure framework, which expires in January 2019, awarded with a value of £1.5bn. Since its launch in 2015 the framework has been widely adopted by the Scottish public sector, with 25 major civil engineering projects commissioned across Scotland to date. In Scotland the framework has achieved 89% of its spend within 40 miles and 98% of framework subcontractors were SMEs.

Victoria Brambini, managing director at Scape Procure, said: “This was a highly competitive procurement and the quality of bids were extremely high. Balfour Beatty demonstrated the right combination of civil engineering expertise and capacity in Scotland, and was able to provide outstanding commitment to add value through innovation and investments that will enhance the levels of private sector spend on community benefits and social value, including significant opportunities for local small businesses to engage in public sector construction.

“We created a dedicated £500m Scottish framework to reflect the strong and growing pipeline of major infrastructure projects in Scotland. We are passionate about delivering community benefits and social value across the length and breadth of Scotland, and we believe in local solutions that will unlock the true value of infrastructure investment for local communities.

“We are very proud to have established a dedicated Contracting Authority in Scotland, Scape Procure Scotland, to meet the specific needs of Scotland’s public sector through our frameworks. We are now partnering with over 70 public sector organisations in Scotland and can assure them of our ongoing commitment to growing levels of support and unique services. The establishment of this Authority goes beyond achieving compliance; we are committed to maintaining our investment in Scotland, as we seek to continue to develop strong, collaborative relationships with the public sector so that we can, together, enable wide reaching efficiencies across their assets, infrastructure and estate.”

Dean Banks, chief executive officer for Balfour Beatty’s UK Construction Services business, added: “Our understanding of the Scottish market coupled with our project delivery and engineering expertise will support Scape’s rapid mobilisation of infrastructure projects for our Scottish customers.

“Through our continued partnership with Scape, we will drive added social value for the communities in which we operate; supporting neighbourhoods, local businesses and local employment to help unlock long-term economic growth for Scotland.”