Four contractors have secured a place on SSE’s overhead line delivery framework in northern Scotland for contracts totalling £450m.

Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, part of the SSE group, awarded contracts to Amec Group, Babcock Networks, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions and a Morgan Sindall and Vinci Energies joint venture (MSVE Transmission).

The framework involves the design, supply, installation and commissioning of new build 132 kV, 275 kV and 400 kV overhead lines as well as the refurbishment and upgrade of existing overhead lines.

Under the deal, individual contracts worth between £5m and £50m will be awarded over five years, with a possible four-year extension.

Works are due to start on site in 2015 and are expected to support more than 600 jobs.

The framework is part of SHE Transmission’s £1.5bn capital investment programme to improve the region’s transmission network. This investment may be increased to £4bn if required, the group said.

The framework follows the awarding of £600m-worth of contracts in April last year to boost the delivery of new electricity substations in northern Scotland.

The winning consortia for the £600m deals included a new venture (Miller Quatro) between Miller and Spanish firms Sacyr Industrial, Isastur, and Aditel.

The other consortia to win places were: ABB UK and Balfour Beatty Engineering Services; Alstom Grid UK and Enterprise Utility Services; and Bam Nuttall and Siemens.

Balfour Beatty Power T&D managing director Neil Kirkby said: “We will be doing everything we can to bring benefits to the local economy through our work in Scotland.

“This includes using SSE’s procurement portal, Open4Business, to ensure as much of our supply chain as possible is in the local area, and fully supporting SSE’s pledge to provide the living wage.”

Vinci Energies UK managing director Rochdi Ziyat added: “MSVE Transmission was awarded its first overhead line contract in 2011 with National Grid, and since then has invested in a programme of training and development to ensure it is well placed to carry out this specialist work and meet the UK’s future overhead line requirements.”