Energy company EDF has finally signed the main civils contract for Hinkley Point C with preferred joint venture with  Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke. 

The French contractor revealed it has sealed the deal worth over £1.45bn alone to the firm. The construction deal is a big boost for Laing O’Rourke, which recently revealed group losses of around £246m last year.

Philippe Bonnave, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bouygues Construction, said: “We are proud to have been selected by EDF for this extraordinary project, a choice that reflects Bouygues Construction’s expertise in the field of nuclear civil engineering.

“We will be undertaking this project alongside Laing O’Rourke, our internationally renowned British partner. We share the same values and give the same priority to employee safety and the importance of skilled workers.”

The £18bn nuclear power station project will involve some 3,500 site workers at peak periods. The Hinkley Point C plant will consist of twin EPR reactors with total capacity of 3.2 GW. It will supply 7% of the country’s electricity consumption, providing power for more than 5m homes.

Bouygues Construction won the civil engineering contract for similar EDF power station projects in Finland and France. Both projects which started around ten years ago, are taking longer than forecast and running over budget. Bouygues said the Hinkley Point C project would benefit from the experience gained on these two projects, and would see a number of key innovations implemented, such as digital modelling.