Kier appointed as interim services provider for Birmingham highways contract
Kier Highways has been appointed as the preferred bidder to manage the 15-month interim highway services contract for Birmingham Highways Ltd (BHL) from 1 April 2020 to 29 June 2021.
The contract includes the city’s traffic operations, planned and reactive maintenance, inspections and winter servicing. The contract is expected to be signed in late February.
Amey Local Government Limited will be exiting the 25-year maintenance and management contract on 31 March 2020, following an agreement with Birmingham City Council and the BHL shareholders in June 2019.
BHL, which is owned by Equitix and Pensions Infrastructure Platform, and the city council are in the process of procuring a 14-year full services contract which will commence on 1 July 2021 and will cover operations, maintenance, improvement and renewal of the city’s highways network.
Birmingham City Council entered into a £2.3 billion 25-year highways management and maintenance contract with Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd, now BHL, in 2010 under the Government’s private finance initiative (PFI). The contract covers more than 2,500km of road and 5,000km of footways, as well as 846 structures, three tunnels, 94,000 street lighting columns, 76,000 highway trees and the city’s traffic control system.
Natasha Rouse, Chief Executive of BHL, said: “We look forward to working with Kier. The company has put together a robust offer that demonstrates its ability to provide a good quality of service and mobilise quickly and efficiently. We aim to achieve a seamless transition to our new provider while continuing to service the city’s highways network.”
Cllr Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for transport and environment at Birmingham City Council, said: “I am pleased that Kier has put a compelling and competitive bid to us to maintain the city’s highways. Its reputation as a leading national roads operator should give welcomed assurance to the people of Birmingham that we have put the safe and efficient servicing of our streets at the heart of this process.”
Joe Incutti, Kier Acting Group Managing Director for Highways said “We are delighted to have been named preferred bidder for the Birmingham Highways contract and have a wealth of experience in successfully designing and maintaining local authority roads. We’re a trusted supplier and already operate in the midlands delivering maintenance to one of the most complex and busy highway networks in the UK, including Spaghetti Junction, which carries 60,000 vehicles each day.
“We are looking forward to working alongside Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Highways Ltd on this contract to keep roads in Birmingham safe and reliable.”
