IN Brief:
- ILIOS has secured the £200 million construction partner role for the STEP Fusion programme at West Burton.
- The contract covers enabling works, civils, buildings, infrastructure, design integration, logistics, and supply-chain coordination.
- The programme is targeting operation in 2040, with the construction phase expected to support up to 8,000 jobs at peak.
The UK’s STEP Fusion programme has appointed a construction partner for West Burton, giving Kier a central role in one of the country’s most technically demanding energy infrastructure schemes. UK Industrial Fusion Solutions has awarded a £200 million contract to ILIOS, a consortium led by a Kier-Nuvia joint venture and supported by AECOM, AL_A, and Turner & Townsend.
The appointment moves the former West Burton power station site further into delivery. As construction partner, ILIOS will act as principal design-and-build contractor and oversee enabling works, design integration, civils, buildings, site infrastructure, logistics, supply chains, safety, quality, and sustainability under the STEP programme.
For the construction sector, the significance of the award lies in the scope of the role as much as in the contract value. West Burton is a high-hazard brownfield energy site being repurposed for a prototype fusion plant, which brings together complex site transformation, specialist building requirements, infrastructure coordination, and long-term programme management from an unusually early stage.
The project also stands out as one of the largest future construction opportunities developing around the UK’s fusion strategy. STEP is targeting planned operation in 2040, and programme material indicates that the construction phase could support up to 8,000 jobs on site at peak, alongside demand for apprenticeships, regional supply chain capacity, and specialist engineering capability.
West Burton was selected following a national siting process and is being shaped as both a major energy project and a wider regeneration programme. The transition from coal-fired generation to advanced fusion infrastructure gives the site a distinct delivery profile, with the build now centred on enabling works, specialist civil engineering, complex structures, and extensive coordination across multiple disciplines.
For Kier, the contract strengthens its position in technically intensive public infrastructure. For the wider market, it marks another shift in the STEP programme from long-range policy ambition towards live construction planning, with a named delivery partner now in place and the route from design into site execution becoming materially clearer.
