Transport Scotland has named Wills Bros as its preferred contractor for the £220m scheme to dual the 6.4km stretch of the A9 between Pitlochry and Killiecrankie, Construction Enquirer reported. The formal award is still subject to the mandatory standstill period, but Wills Bros beat Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering and Kier Transportation, the two other firms shortlisted for the section back in November 2025.

The contract covers new grade-separated junctions, active travel routes and flood mitigation measures, along with nine bridges, including a new crossing of the River Tummel. Transport Scotland is targeting the scheme becoming operational by the end of 2030.

Why it matters

This section sits outside the £1.94bn framework Transport Scotland launched this summer to cover the remaining stretches of A9 dualling between Perth and Inverness. Pitlochry to Killiecrankie was procured separately and is further ahead in the pipeline. Taken together, the two procurement tracks confirm the Scottish Government's commitment to finishing the A9 upgrade, after years in which campaigners and local businesses complained the programme had stalled.

For contractors, it's a sign that the Scottish roads market, which has been thinner than England's over the past two years, is building a multi-year pipeline of major civils work rather than one-off schemes. A firm the size of Wills Bros landing a nine-figure sum against two much larger rivals also says something about how competitive mid-sized Irish and Scottish contractors have become on technically demanding roads work.

What it means for your career

If you're a civils professional based in or willing to relocate to Perthshire or the Highlands, this is a multi-year commitment rather than a short contract. Construction is expected to run through to 2030, which means sustained demand for site engineers, groundworkers, structures and bridge specialists, and environmental or flood-mitigation specialists who can work to Scottish planning and consent conditions.

It's also worth watching for Wills Bros' own hiring, given the firm will need to scale a Scottish site team quickly to mobilise, and for the knock-on effect on subcontractors in traffic management, drainage and structures who will be needed across the life of the job. With the wider £1.94bn A9 framework also expected to make its first appointments before the end of the year, anyone with Highland trunk-road experience, or wanting to build it, has a genuinely long runway of work to plan a move around, rather than the one-project-and-done pattern common on smaller road schemes.