The joint venture between Bam Nuttall, Balfour Beatty and Morgan Sindall has scored an early success winning a place to bid for all three major work packages, the largest worth up to £950m.

The four contractors who have been selected for the west package will now prepare their bids for the next stage of the tender process starting in mid November.

The Development Consent Application is currently being considered by the Planning Inspectorate and, subject to consent being granted, construction on the project is due to start in 2016 and will involve 24 construction sites across London.

Mike Gerrard, managing director of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, said: “We are building for 22nd Century London to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames. The Thames Tideway Tunnel is needed to tackle the millions of tonnes of raw sewage which discharge into the River Thames every year. The river needs cleaning up and it needs to be cleaned up now.

“It will be the biggest tunnelling project ever undertaken in the UK’s water industry. We have shortlisted the contractors with the right expertise and experience, who will deliver the best value for money for our customers.

“We are following a rigorous tender process and are confident the successful tenderers are capable of delivering the project.”

Alongside the environmental improvements to the River Thames, the tunnel will create more than 9,000 jobs. Already, around 500 people are working on the project.

The project is expected to be financed and delivered by an independent Infrastructure Provider, with its own licence from Ofwat.

Thames Water, Government and Ofwat are continuing to work together to finalise the financing arrangements for the project. Procurement of the new IP is expected to begin in 2014 and is anticipated to take between six to nine months.