Lagan has secured a £53,315,516 construction contract for the next delivery stage of the RAF Waddington airfield refurbishment programme in Lincolnshire, with the formal contract period running to 19 July 2028. A Contracts Finder award notice published on 29 September gives the agreed price as £53.315m excluding VAT and describes the scope as RIBA stages 5–6 construction, refurbishment and handover works under the RAF's Airfield Operating Surfaces Programmatic Approach. The procurement record provides more detail than the earlier £53m project announcement. It records a formal award and contract start date of 24 September 2026 and an end date of 19 July 2028. The supplier named in that notice is Lagan Construction Limited.
Project teams at RAF Waddington as work begins on the airfield refurbishment programme. Image: MOD Crown Copyright.
What the £53.315m contract covers
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation's project announcement confirms that the physical scope includes refurbishment of several aircraft bays and taxiways, new drainage systems and upgrades to approach lighting. DIO is delivering the project for RAF Air Infrastructure. Ramboll UK has separately been appointed to provide technical services, while the published £53,315,516 procurement value relates specifically to the RIBA 5–6 construction and handover contract recorded against Lagan Construction Limited.
The procurement is described as an above-threshold competitive dialogue for an Alliance Contractor. That places the award within the wider Airfield Operating Surfaces Programmatic Approach rather than as an isolated runway or taxiway job. London Construction Magazine's recent analysis of the UK defence construction pipeline to 2030 identified airfield, estate and operational infrastructure as one of the areas where individual funded projects are now moving from spending plans into procurement and delivery.
Lagan moved from design into RIBA 5–6 delivery
The construction award follows earlier contractor involvement at RAF Waddington. A separate Contracts Finder award published in September 2025 shows Lagan Construction Limited receiving a £3.818m contract covering RIBA stages 3–4 early contractor involvement and design for the same Airfield Operating Surfaces project.
The latest £53.315m award therefore moves the programme from the earlier design and ECI stage into construction and handover. This is an important distinction because the new procurement is not simply another consultancy or pre-construction appointment: its published scope covers the refurbishment works themselves through RIBA stages 5 and 6.
There is, however, a timing point in the official records that should not be ignored. DIO's announcement, published on 22 September, stated that work had started, while the later procurement record gives 24 September as both the formal contract award and contract start date. The public documents do not explain that difference, so it would be unsafe to infer what contractual arrangement covered any mobilisation or activity before 24 September.
Why two different Lagan company names appear
There is also a corporate-name difference between the project announcement and the procurement record. DIO identifies Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure Ltd as the contractor carrying out the works. The Contracts Finder record instead identifies the awarded supplier as Lagan Construction Limited. London Construction Magazine checked the underlying corporate records. Lagan Construction Limited, company number NI005233, and Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure Limited, company number NI627818, are separate active companies registered at the same Belfast address.
The public project and procurement documents reviewed by LCM do not explain which contractual or group arrangement accounts for the different names. The two entities should therefore not simply be treated as interchangeable. For the formal £53.315m award, the published procurement supplier is Lagan Construction Limited; DIO's delivery announcement describes Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure Ltd as carrying out the refurbishment.
Construction has to continue around an operational RAF base
RAF Waddington is the RAF's principal Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance hub and supports UK and NATO operations. It is also home to the Red Arrows. The published scope therefore has to be delivered around continuing airfield activity. DIO says extensive planning has been undertaken with RAF units and station staff so flying operations can continue while the bays, taxiways, drainage and lighting infrastructure are refurbished.
Robert Weston, Project Director at Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure, said: “We have planned the works collaboratively with the Station to ensure operations are not impacted during the construction works.”
That operational constraint is familiar across major aviation projects. LCM has previously examined Lagan-branded runway works delivered around operating hours at London Luton Airport, while the current Gatwick construction programme also includes Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure among its building and civils framework partners. For RAF Waddington, the published documents do not yet set out detailed possession windows, individual subcontract packages or the construction sequence for each aircraft bay and taxiway. Those details should not be assumed from the overall scope.
RAF Waddington programme runs into summer 2028
The Contracts Finder record gives 19 July 2028 as the end of the £53.315m contract, broadly aligning with DIO's statement that the refurbishment is expected to complete in summer 2028. Construction is now the confirmed project stage, but no public programme reviewed by LCM provides intermediate completion dates for the individual taxiways, aircraft bays, drainage works or approach-lighting upgrades. Further phase milestones will depend on subsequent information from DIO, the RAF or the project team as delivery progresses.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus Founder & Editor, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |