Top UK firms have been approached to undertake billions of pounds of rebuilding work in Russia.

Balfour Beatty and Jarvis are understood to be among the firms that could benefit from a £50bn series of public-private partnerships to rework huge amounts of dilapidated infrastructure.

The work includes huge schemes such as a new £8bn 10-lane motorway between Moscow and St Petersburg, a £2bn Moscow ring road and a £1.5bn new terminal at the northern port of Murmansk.

The total package of work includes more than 20 major deals. UK firms are seen as being at the front of the queue to win the work because of almost 15 years in working on them in Britain.

However, foreign investors will be cautious about rushing into deals as some of them are so big that they could be bankrupted if the Russian government withdrew its commitment.

Edinburgh-based contractor Peter Walker Group has gone into receivership with the loss of at least 344 jobs. The group ceased trading last week.