3,750 construction jobs to be created on ultrafast broadband rollout

Construction Enquirer reports this week that ultrafast broadband provider CityFibre has selected 15 construction contracting firms to deliver its next £1.5 billion full-fibre infrastructure programme, creating jobs up and down the country.

The awards are due to create 3,750 new local network construction jobs across 27 towns and cities, keeping CityFibre on track to create 10,000 jobs over the next three years. 

Who’ll be hiring and where?

These awards conclude the first phase of CityFibre’s Accelerated Tender Awards Programme bringing total build contracts to £2.5 billion. 

Here are the 15 firms selected and where the network construction opportunities will be located: 

• Callan Connect – Solihull
• CCN – Chichester & Arun, Poole, Christchurch
• Instacom – Reading
• J McCann – Nottingham
• IQA – North Tyneside
• Kier – Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bath, Weston-Super-Mare, Worcester
• Lanes – Brighton & Hove, Chatham & Gillingham, Crawley & Horsham, Eastbourne
• MAP – Middlesbrough
• Network Plus – Bradford
• Nmcn – Barnsley, Halifax
• O’Connor’s – Sheffield
• Oakway – Plymouth
• PMK – Renfrew & Glasgow South
• Telent – Blackpool, Chester, Preston
• VolkerSmart Technologies – Bracknell & Maidenhead

Kier, which said its deal is worth £82 million over two and a half years, is geared up to start work early next year, creating 300 employment, apprenticeship and training roles in the process.

Looking further ahead

In late summer CityFibre brought in global construction project management firm Bechtel to accelerate its full-fibre rollout.

By the end of 2021, network construction is forecast to be underway in more than 100 towns and cities across the UK.

With 26 build partners now under contract, Bechtel’s construction supply chain is secured for rollouts targeting more than 5 million premises across 66 towns and cities.

Before the end of the year, CityFibre will launch the second phase of the ATAP through which it will award build contracts for up to a further 3 million premises, keeping it on track to meet Government targets for national full-fibre.

Surely good news for the economy, construction and recruitment supply chains, especially in these troubling times.