Construction giant Laing O'Rourke is part of a consortium awarded a £520m (€589.5m) contract for works on Scotland's water system last week.

The Thistle Water consortium, which also includes engineering firm Jacobs UK and multinational Veolia Water, has been selected as the preferred bidder to enter a joint venture partnership with Scottish Water for the delivery of a substantial portion of its capital investment programme from 2010.

A contract for the works is likely to be officially awarded to the joint venture, known as Scottish Water Solutions 2, by the end of this year.

A spokesman for Scottish Water said the consortium was one of two very strong bidders in the running.