Lower Thames Crossing cost breakdown
Case reference EIR2025/00678
Received 8 April 2025
Published 17 September 2025
Request
Regarding the cost of the Lower Thames Crossing recently granted government approval.
It is reported that the total cost for this project is estimated to be £9 Billion.
It is also reported that three contracts for the construction have already been awarded.
“A joint venture between Bouygues Travaux Publics and Murphy landed the £1.34bn tunnelling contract, Balfour Beatty won the £1.2bn northern roads job and Skanska the £450m southern roads job.”
My math says those three contracts total £2.99 Billion.
Can you please provide the cost breakdown of the items of the project estimate between the £2.99 Billion for the actual construction cost, and the £9 Billion total cost
Response
The figures you refer to are the estimated contract values for the three Lower Thames Crossing main works contracts, which were based on values at the time of publication and does not include inflation or VAT. This is a standard approach to contact values for major programmes.
The full project cost includes these factors and covers all capital expenditure (CAPEX), which includes the three main works contracts, accounts for VAT and inflation, other elements of the project’s development. A breakdown can be found in the project's Development Consent Order application, 'Combined Modelling and Appraisal Report - 7.4 Project costs'.
TR010032-001321-7.7 Combined Modelling and Appraisal Report.pdf
Documents
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