The win is a significant boost to Lend Lease’s push into the UK major infrastructure market.

The £300m terminal expansion at Seaforth will allow some of the world’s largest container ships to use the Mersey and is due to open for business in 2015.

Lend Lease will drive the overall programme, support operations, and collaborate with Peel Ports in managing site facilities and rules.

The main quay wall and dredging contractor will be named shortly, and further packages of work will be advertised, including design and consultancy services.

Michael Dyke, executive director for Lend Lease project management and construction in Europe, said: “This project is wholly consistent with our increased focus on economic infrastructure and reinforces our commitment to the EMEA region, given the significant contribution Liverpool2 will have upon the local community and the UK economy as a whole.

“Liverpool2 is a complex project that will require close collaboration with all stakeholders, at every level.”

Construction work will now start next year. As principal contractor Lend Lease will oversea construction of a new 854m quay wall, the in-filling of the newly created land-mass, the dredging of a new 16.5m deep berthing pockets and installation of ship to shore quay cranes and rail mounted gantry cranes and supporting infrastructure works.

Work on the quay wall will require 30,000 cu m of concrete, 15,000 metres of steel piles and 6,100m of new crane rails.

Dredging of the berthing pocket will remove around one million cu m of material from the Mersey and almost three million cubic metres of infill material will be required to create the new container area.

Associated infrastructure will require the construction of 3,500m of new road, 230,000 sq m of surfacing and 2,500m of fencing.

Gary Hodgson, managing director of Peel Ports Mersey, said: “The naming of the principal contractor is a vitally important move in the construction of Liverpool2, and we are confident that Lend Lease, with an impressive track record on major construction projects across the globe, is the right company for the job.

“This facility represents a transformational project for the Peel Ports business. It will bring thousands of jobs and economic prosperity to the Merseyside region along with the rest of the North West.

“The Liverpool2 brand will become known throughout the world as our new container terminal brings customers to the North West from all points of the compass from South America to the Far East.”