One of the early Design, Build, Finance, Operate projects, the concession was awarded to Autolink Concessionaires (M6) plc, the Special Purpose Company that will operate and maintain 90 km of the M6 (from Gretna, on the Scottish border to Millbank, 30 miles south of Glasgow) for a period of 30 years.

Construction was completed in 1999 and works included the upgrade of the A74 to a 29 km stretch of dual 3-lane motorway, together with the creation of a new parallel all-purpose road.

The new motorway incorporates a number of structures, including a river crossing and a bridge over the West Coast mainline railway.

Construction of the road featured a number of interesting technical elements.

The northbound lane was created by cutting through the hillside rock, with the upper surface of the slopes stabilised by means of extensive soil nailing. The southbound lane runs over a reinforced earth embankment with a retaining wall to one side.

Revenue for this project is via shadow toll, measured at 13 locations along the route.

John Laing purchased its stake in the M6 DBFO project in March 2003 as part of the acquisition of a portfolio of infrastructure investments from Amey plc.