Jacobs Secures Three Strategic National Highways Commissions Across the UK Road Network
- Michael Ghobrial
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Jacobs has expanded its role across the UK's strategic road network, securing three new National Highways commissions. Two of the awards sit under the Technical Assurance and Asset Management Framework, covering major viaduct renewal designs on the M32 and M5, while the third places the firm on the Construction and Professional Management Services framework leading a multi disciplinary team across a minimum of 15 schemes.
Project overview
Client: National Highways
Appointed firm: Jacobs
Commission one: M32 Eastville Viaduct, Stages 3 to 5 detailed design
Commission two: M5 Wynhol Viaduct, Stages 1 to 2 preliminary design
Commission three: Project Management Services Framework Lot 2, leading delivery of a minimum of 15 schemes
Framework term: Five years, comprising an initial three year period with two one year extension options
Why these structures matter
The Eastville Viaduct carries the M32 motorway into Bristol and serves as a key commuter and freight corridor connecting the city to the M4 and M5. Structures of this age and importance across the strategic road network are entering a concentrated period of renewal, and National Highways has been steadily building framework capacity to manage the design and assurance workload this creates.
The M5 Wynhol Viaduct commission sits at an earlier design stage, meaning Jacobs will shape the renewal approach from preliminary design onwards, a position which often leads to continued involvement as schemes progress toward detailed design and construction.
The framework dimension
The Project Management Services Framework role is arguably the most significant of the three awards commercially. Leading a multi disciplinary team across at least 15 schemes over a five year term gives Jacobs recurring, programme level involvement in how National Highways scopes and delivers its major projects portfolio, rather than a single project engagement.
For the wider supply chain, framework appointments of this kind signal where design, surveying and specialist engineering subcontract opportunities will flow over the coming years, since framework leads typically assemble consistent delivery teams across their scheme allocations.
A busy period for UK roads spending
The awards land in an active period for strategic road investment, with the £11 billion Lower Thames Crossing entering construction and National Highways continuing to allocate work across its renewal and enhancement programmes. Consultants and contractors with established framework positions are best placed to absorb this pipeline as it converts from planning into delivery.
Related reading
For more on this story's wider context, see our earlier coverage: McLaughlin & Harvey to Build National Grid's New Control Centre
Take it further
National Highways schemes run on NEC contracts, where compensation events decide who carries the cost of change. Our NEC4 Compensation Events Guide 2026 is available now on the Emilecon store.
