Hargreaves Services has been selected by Sizewell C Limited to design, procure, manufacture, install, test and commission three foul water treatment facilities needed for construction of the Suffolk nuclear plant, the company confirmed in a stock exchange announcement this week.

The contract runs for two years, starting in early 2027, with work falling across Hargreaves' financial years to May 2027 and May 2028. The company, which employs around 1,400 people from its base in Durham and provides earthworks, mechanical and electrical engineering services across UK infrastructure, said the award underpins its existing revenue and profit forecasts for both years. The contract value was not disclosed. Sizewell C's chief commercial officer described it as another significant UK contract for the project, which has now placed roughly £5bn of spend with UK suppliers across more than a thousand companies.

Why it matters

Sizewell C continues to hand out contracts at a pace most UK infrastructure programmes cannot match, and this award is a reminder that the opportunity is not confined to the headline civils and nuclear packages. Enabling infrastructure, in this case foul water treatment for a construction workforce that will run into the thousands, is where specialist mechanical and electrical contractors like Hargreaves are building a long-term presence on site well ahead of first concrete on the reactor itself.

It also shows the programme reaching beyond the usual tier-one nuclear names to engineering firms whose core business is UK infrastructure and earthworks rather than nuclear specifically, which widens the pool of employers recruiting against Sizewell C work.

What it means for your career

If you are an engineer, project manager or commercial professional with a mechanical and electrical or earthworks background, Sizewell C's enabling works are a growing route into the nuclear sector that does not require years of prior nuclear experience. Hargreaves will be building a Suffolk-based delivery team over the next two years, and the wider site is still drawing in M&E, civils and commercial staff from contractors who have never worked on a nuclear project before. Anyone building a CV toward Hinkley Point C's successor programmes, or simply looking for multi-year security in the South East, should treat Sizewell C's supply chain, not just its principal contractors, as the place to look.