Kier has taken on a job to build two accommodation blocks at HMP Channings Wood in Devon.
The project, which Kier said is worth more than £200m in total, will create 494 prison places across two energy-efficient houseblocks.
The new facilities will boost the prisoner capacity by two-thirds, from 746 to 1,240.
It comes at a critical moment, as problems including planning and cost increases have limited attempts to build new prisons and improve the state of crumbling jails. The new Labour government promised in its general election manifesto to “use all relevant powers” to build prisons that it said were “so badly needed”, amid concerns that the prison estate was close to reaching full capacity.
Kier will deliver the X-shaped houseblocks using modern methods of construction. It will also build a workshop, and has committed to providing jobs for local people, including apprenticeships.
As well as that, the contractor said it will offer jobs to prison leavers through its Making Ground programme, which presents opportunities in construction to prisoners released on temporary licence.
The bumper contract is funded by the £500m prison-upgrade fund announced in 2022 by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which named Kier and Wates on the programme. The fund is allocated for constructing houseblocks at six UK prisons.
At the time, the MoJ estimated that more than 2,000 jobs would be generated during the construction phase.
As well as HMP Channings Wood, Kier has scooped work at HMP Bullingdon and HMP Elmley from the £500m upgrade fund.
Kier Construction managing director Stuart Togwell said the contractor would use its “extensive experience to deliver this project efficiently and sustainably”.
Last month, the Prison Governors’ Association warned in a strongly worded letter that it was just “a matter of days” before prisons ran out of space, and that the criminal justice system stood “on the precipice of failure”.
The MoJ has estimated that, by 2027, the prison population will increase from 87,900 inmates in March this year to about 105,000, as the backlog of cases in the court system is cleared, and in light of longer sentences being imposed.
The Conservative government’s spending review of 2020 allocated funding of £4bn to build six new jails and expand the existing estate. A report for MPs by the House of Commons Library, published last week, reveals how far behind the building programme is and why.
It says: “New prisons are complex capital projects, requiring planning permission and relying on a construction industry impacted by inflation, with delivery costs affected by market-led price increases.
“Planning permission has proved challenging, with three sites (in Lancashire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire) initially refused permission. While some early planning obstacles have been surmounted, these delays, coupled with challenging market conditions, mean the mid-2020s target is unlikely to be hit.”
