BETHELL Group -- the current Bolton and Bury Company of the Year -- has won a £15 million electrical cable installation contract from United Utilities.

It will create 100 new jobs.

The contract comes just months after Bethell won a £25 million five-year wastewater maintenance contract from the same company.

Bethell is a building and infrastructure services organisation based in Kearsley.

The new, three-year contract involves upgrading existing electricity distribution systems throughout the entire North West region, from the Scottish border to south Cheshire, together with a round-the-clock emergency fault repair service.

Bethell has also won a £400,000 one-year contract to maintain United Utilities' wastewater pumping stations throughout the Greater Manchester area.

The new £15 million contract will create up to 100 new jobs at Bethell, which currently has around 800 staff.

As part of the contract, Bethell is also setting up a satellite depot at Kendal in Cumbria.

The Group already has a five-year contract with South Lakeland District Council for highway maintenance throughout the region.

Bethell Utility Services Division, which will handle the United Utilities contract, has implemented unique software to distinguish all incoming calls and manage the works related to the new contract, which will be handled by a 24-hour control room set up at the company's Kearsley head office.

"This new contract provides further evidence of our close and highly successful working relationship with United Utilities," said Mike Lane, Bethell Utility Services Division managing director.

"It also means that, as a Group, we can consolidate our position in Cumbria."

Mike Lane.

A Bethell crew at work.