Interserve is targeting work on the Scottish highways network.

The firm’s infrastructure boss Chris Tyerman said that the company was winning a number of highways jobs north of the border.

He said that the Scottish highways market offered a range of opportunities for the business and that building a presence there was the “natural step to creating organic growth”.

Mr Tyerman was appointed as Interserve’s infrastructure head in November 2014 following several years at Costain, where his roles included director of highways maintenance and deputy managing director.

Interserve Construction Director, Ian Renhard, said at the time that Mr Tyerman’s appointment was part of the firm’s strategy to grow its infrastructure division, singling out highways work as a particularly important area of strategic planning for the business.

In March last year, the firm made the decision to target the Scottish highways sector, with Interserve bidding for its first roads job in the early part of this year after “positive conversations with Transport Scotland and local authorities”, Mr Tyerman said.

He continued: “When we look at what projects are attractive to us and we look at who the customer is and what the funding process is… and whether it sits in a range of projects that allows us to operate competently and comprehensively, there are certainly schemes in Scotland that fall within that assessment criteria and that is the reason why we have moved towards that market.”

Interserve has already established itself in the highways sector in England by securing a series of local and strategic road contracts over the last two years.

In June, it was chosen on four out of six of the highways lots for the £1.5bn North-east Procurement Organisation framework covering infrastructure work throughout the region.

The company was also one of five businesses to be chosen in the medium-value lot of Highways England’s £5 billion Collaborative Delivery Framework for work up to £25 million.