French firm's £15.5m contract with supermarket includes building Staffordshire store and completing a ring road

Vinci have started work on a Tesco development in Staffordshire.

The 80,000 sq ft supermarket is being built in Hanley, one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent, and is part of ongoing regeneration efforts in the area.

The store will include staff facilities and a customer restaurant on a mezzanine level, while a petrol station has also been planned.

As part of the scheme, the city’s central ring road will be completed. The project had been delayed due to difficulty in purchasing land needed to finish the road, with planning permission for the dual carriageway granted in 2005.

Completing the road is part of Vinci’s £15.5m contract, which also includes constructing three new signal controlled junctions and the widening of approach roads.

The 44 week contract means the project should be completed by the end of the year, with Tesco chiefs saying it is likely to bring 300 new jobs to the area.