Contractors celebrate £1.5bn motorway wins
Highways England has awarded a raft of smart motorways jobs to contractors worth up to £1.5bn.
Balfour Beatty in a joint venture with Vinci has taken the largest deal for a 10-mile stretch of the M5 Junctions 4a to 6 in Worcestershire; a 12-mile section of the M6 Junctions 2 to 4 in the Midlands, and a 32-mile stretch of the M4 Junctions 3 to 12 in London and Berkshire.
The contract is worth up to £607.4m and work on the first £45.4m package on the M4 will start this autumn.
The M6 deal is expected to start work in 2017/18 and the M4 scheme in 2016/17.
Kier has secured work worth up to £475m in a 50/50 joint venture with Carillion under the Collaborative Delivery Framework.
The JV will work on the 19 mile stretch of the M6 running from Junction 16 to 19 and the M6 running from Junction 13 to 15, as well as the M20 between Junction 3 and 5 and the M23 from Junction 8 to 10.
The first phase of the contract on the M6 (J16-19), worth £129.5m is due to begin this autumn with the other packages phased for delivery over the next four years.
Galliford Try has also won deals worth up to £367m in a joint venture with Costain.
The Galliford Try and Costain joint venture has won a construction package including delivery of the M1 J19 to J16 Smart Motorway in Northamptonshire, starting this autumn at a value of £65m.
It has also been appointed to construct two future schemes: the M1 J24 to J25 in the East Midlands, and the M1 J13 to J16 in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.
Both are expected to commence in 2016/17 at an estimated combined value of up to £302m subject to the agreement of target costs.
Amey and Arup have also won deals worth up to £25m on the M1 to design a smart motorway to relieve congestion between junctions 24 and 25 and junctions 13 and 16.
Working across 45km of road network, Amey and Arup will design the technology and infrastructure required to operate a smart motorway; including strengthening of the hard shoulder, creation of emergency refuge areas, new signage, gantries and central reservation barriers.
Joint ventures between CH2M and Hyder and Jacobs and Atkins have also won design deals.
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Specialist services group is awarded with Investors in People Bronze Standard. Posted via Industry Today. Are you into it? Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday Continue ReadingGovernment pulls funding for Green Deal
The Government is pulling funding from the Green Deal Finance Company due to “low take-up and concerns about industry standards.”
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd said she will now “work with the building industry and consumer groups on a new value-for-money approach.”
The Government said: “Future schemes must provide better value for money, supporting the goal of insulating a million more homes over the next five years and the Government’s commitment to tackle fuel poverty.”
Existing Green Deal Finance Plans and Green Deal Home Improvement Fund applications and vouchers will be honoured.
Mark Bayley, Chief Executive, Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) said: “The most important thing at the moment is for us and the Department to reassure those who currently have Green Deal finance plans in place and those with approved applications, that today’s announcement does not change anything for them.”
The GDFC currently has a network of 70 Green Deal Providers who carry out the work.
Bayley said: “Our network of small and medium size firms – the 70 Green Deal Providers – have done a fantastic job of making the Green Deal work.
“Our very strong growth over the past year has been driven by their efforts and investment.
“We’ve also provided over £75 million in trading lines to our small business partners over the last two years.
“My priority now is to ensure an orderly closure to new business and to fund eligible plans already submitted by the Providers.”
Rudd said: “It’s now time for the building industry and consumer groups to work with us to make new policy and build a system that works.”
The move is the latest shock to the energy efficiency sector after zero-carbon homes targets were dumped earlier this month.
Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: “With each passing day, this Government puts an end to another green policy.
“Government’s strategy on dealing with high energy bills through home energy efficiency is now dead in the water.
“While the Green Deal was by no means perfect, the principle of enabling households to install energy saving measures without paying upfront costs was sound.
“The irony is that the scheme was finally becoming established and the number of plans was growing.
“This is yet another announcement with no forewarning that will leave the energy efficiency industry battered and bruised.”
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