Balfour Beatty will be part of the consortium which will provide sewage works in Scotland, under an £80 million PFI contract.

The company will be joined by Kelda, formerly known as Yorkshire Water, in the consortium, which will design, build, operate and maintain four waste water treatment plants in Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The plants will serve 250,000 customers over the 30-year contract. The consortium will operate as Aberdeen Environmental Services.

Balfour Beatty chief executive Mike Welton said: "I’m delighted to add a further concession to our already strong portfolio of PFI projects. This portfolio is an increasingly important part of Balfour Beatty's £2.5 billion business."

The company has several other major PFI contracts, including two hospital projects in Edinburgh and North Durham worth a total of £279 million.

Anna Lagerkvist