Highways England (HE) has announced the names of three construction consortia and three design joint ventures that will deliver a £1.5bn programme of all-lane-running Smart Motorway projects over the next five to 10 years.

The Smart Motorway schemes will add road space by converting hard shoulders to permanent running lanes with additional traffic monitoring, emergency refuge areas and variable message signs controlled from HE’s control centres.

Contract awards have been announced for three Smart Motorway projects that will start in autumn this year. These include the M5 from junctions 4a to 6, to be designed by consultants Ch2M Hill and Hyder and built by a Balfour Beatty and VINCI joint venture.

Amey and Arup will begin designing a similar scheme for the M1 junctions 16-19, to be constructed by Costain and Galliford Try. Jacobs and Atkins will work together designing a Smart Motorway project for the M6 junctions 16-19, which will be built by a Carillion Kier joint venture.

The contract procurement, carried out through HE’s Collaborative Delivery Framework, also assigns the six consortia to two following tranches of Smart Motorway projects.

The HE has said these phases of work are expected to get under way in 2016/17 and 2017/18, giving the 12 companies involved a commitment of workload beyond 2018, providing all statutory processes are cleared.

Balfour Beatty, VINCI, Ch2M Hill and Hyder can expect to work on the M4 J3-12 from 2016/17 and the M6 J2-4 from 2017/18.

Costain, Galliford Try, Amey and Arup will design and construct Smart Motorway on the M1 J13-16 and J24-25 from 2016/17.

Carillion, Kier, Jacobs and Atkins have been assigned to three major schemes all due to start in 2017/18, on the M6 J13-15, the M20 J3-5 and on the M23 J8-10.