Private finance initiative (PFI) company Connect Plus, the firm that maintains and upgrades the M25, was the largest single supplier to National Highways in 2024-25.
Connect Plus, owned by a consortium of investors including Balfour Beatty, received £487m during the period, according to a Freedom of Information query on the amount of money spent by National Highways on construction contractors, Construction News has revealed. It is the first time in four years that Costain has not been the client’s top supplier.
The total was an increase from the £447.9m it received in the previous financial year, and was £95m higher than in 2022-23.
Balfour Beatty itself received the second-largest total of payments from National Highways, at £414m. This marked a rise of £22m on 2023-24, when it was the client’s third-largest supplier. During the year it, received a boost when campaign group CPRE dropped its legal challenge to the A57 Link Roads project, which will create two highways near the village of Mottram, Greater Manchester.
Two other PFI firms – Autolink Concessionaires (A19) and UK Highways M40 – also made the table, in 11th and 18th respectively.
(Pic: Slallison/Dreamstime)
