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Five contractors including Laing O鈥橰ourke, Taylor Woodrow and Morgan Sindall have been appointed to a 拢9bn framework to upgrade the National Grid.

Known as the Great Grid Partnership, the deal will focus on design and construction work required by the end of the decade for nine major infrastructure projects across England and Wales (see below).

Also on the list is Murphy and M Group-owned Morrison Energy Services. Vinci-owned Taylor Woodrow has formed a joint venture with sister firm Omexon, the infrastructure arm of Vinci Energies.

Two design and consenting service partners, a joint venture between Aecom and Arup, and WSP, have also been appointed.

The seven will work on an initial nine Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) projects.

These schemes form a key part of the so-called Great Grid Upgrade which is building the new electricity network infrastructure required to reduce the UK鈥檚 reliance on fossil fuels by connecting 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.

National Grid said the partnership is designed to speed up the delivery of electricity infrastructure by aiming to coordinate the planning and execution of projects, allowing each supplier and National Grid to pool their resources, skills and experience.

Carl Trowell, president, strategic infrastructure, for National Grid said: 鈥淭he Great Grid Upgrade [is] the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in decades. The scale and pace of this upgrade requires us to unite as an industry and to think and act differently.

鈥淸The partnership] places our supply chain partners at the heart of our infrastructure upgrade programme.

鈥淏y sharing best practice and collaborating across nine of our critical major ASTI infrastructure projects, we will set the gold-standard for future infrastructure projects in terms of driving innovation, shoring up capacity across the skills base, operating responsibly and sustainably and ultimately in getting the best value for consumers.鈥�