A bumper crop of 34 contractors have landed places on a public sector framework set to deliver £1bn of spending on civil engineering and infrastructure in the North East over the next six years.
The North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) procures goods and services for a dozen councils in the region.
Procurement for the latest iteration of the framework began last July and the agreement will start in March.
A number of major contractors have landed a place on the deal for the first time, including Balfour Beatty, GRAHAM, Octavius, VINCI subsidiary Taylor Woodrow and Winvic.
BAM Nuttall, Galliford Try and VolkerStevin have held onto their spots on the framework, but AmcoGiffen, Eric Wright, Farrans and Morgan Sindall are among the companies that are not renewing their places.
Other contractors on the latest NEPO deal are:
Applebridge; Brims, Britcon, C Spencer; Colas; CR Reynolds; Esh; Hall; Howard; John Sisk; Milestone; Neom; Rainton; Seymour; Sirius; Story; Tilbury Douglas; Aureos; Dawson Wam; Thomas Armstrong; BCE Northern; Charles Brand; G&B; Southbay; Wills Bros and Meldrum.
The framework is split into 10 lots covering all types of civil engineering and infrastructure works and associated services with an eleventh lot reserved for larine-related work.
Details of which contractors have been included in which lots have not been made public, but Octavius is on lot four covering projects from £3m-£5m, lot five for projects from £5m- £10m and lot six for projects valued at £10m and above.
'We strategically targeted this framework as the NEPO team are clearly striving to drive best practice and value for money in the delivery of civil engineering and infrastructure programmes,' said Octavius managing director Gavin Pritchard.
'With our success at bringing this to other frameworks we will endeavour to bring all our learning, best practice, energy and innovation to make a valuable contribution to this framework’s success.'
The agreement runs for four years with an optional two-year extension.
NEPO represents councils in Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Redcar & Cleveland, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland.