A consortium that is made up of Kier Project Investment, Equitix Holdings, Galliford Try Investments and John Graham Holdings has been named as the preferred bidder for a new infrastructure hub in south-west Scotland.The consortium, which operates under the name of the Alliance Community Partnerships, beat rival consortiums Triach, which consists of Laing O'Rourke, Hochtief Concessions, Dawn Group and Currie Brown UK, and the WMS Partnership, which is made up of Morgan Sindall, Apollo Capital Projects, Community Solutions Investment Partners, Miller and Cyril Sweett.The hub will deliver over £500m of public sector projects on behalf of the South West Territory Programme board, delivering projects for 18 public sector bodies across Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway and Lanarkshire over ten years covering non-acute health, education, community and local authority-related work. Financial close is expected to take place in October 2012.The programme of works forms part of the wider Hub programme, valued at over £1.4bn. Kier Group Chief Executive, Paul Sheffield, said: "Kier has an excellent track record in project delivery within the public sector and brings a wealth of experience to the consortium. We look forward to working as part of The Alliance Community Partnerships team in delivering much-needed facilities for the local communities of south-west Scotland and adding value for them throughout the process."NR