Fugro, a global company, which conducts geotechnical, survey, subsea and geosciences services, has secured a second contract from Transport Scotland to conduct ground investigations on a landmark project to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness.

As per the terms of the £1.2m contract, Fugro will be responsible for characterising ground conditions along a 14.5km section between Tay Crossing and Killiecrankie within the southern part of the dualling.

Fugro will be carrying out exploratory drilling and sampling in soil and rock, in-situ and laboratory testing and environmental monitoring.

"Fugro will be responsible for characterising ground conditions along a 14.5km section between Tay Crossing and Killiecrankie within the southern part of the dualling."

Last year, Furgo secured £2.5m contract from Transport Scotland that included broader geotechnical as well as environmental monitoring activity across 45km of the southern section between Birnam and Glen Garry.

The Scottish Government is planning for dualling 129km of the A9 between Perth and Inverness by 2025 at a cost of £3bn in one of Scotland’s most challenging infrastructure projects to date.

Geotechnical specialists from Fugro’s UK offices will be transporting boring and drilling rigs, as well as will be using offsite laboratory capabilities drawn from the company’s integrated global resources.

To address the varying geology, Fugro will be using a combination of cable percussive, sonic and rotary drilling techniques will be used, along with wireline logging to assess downhole properties.

The company will use a planned approach to meet complex access and traffic management challenges, with strict consideration for the local ecology and parkland environment.