The job for Essex & Suffolk Water, which is part of Northumbrian Water, was originally costed at around £12m.

But Roadbridge, which operates in England from a base in Welwyn Garden City, has bagged the scheme with a bid of £3.7m.

The water company is aiming to increase the capacity of an existing dual pipeline that carries flows from the Chelmsford sewage treatment works to the Blackwater Estuary with the third 1m diameter pipeline.

The contract involves the design, supply and installation of the underground gravity pipeline to run in parallel with the existing pipelines including numerous strategic crossings of roads and watercourses.