Amey wins highway business in Sheffield and Hants

Sheffield City Council this week named Amey as preferred bidder for its £2bn highways maintenance project.

Amey will take responsibility for improving and maintaining 1,900km of road, 68,000 streetlights, 500 traffic signals, 600 bridges and other structures, 2,400 retaining walls and 35,000 highway trees across the city.

The contract will see £2bn worth of improvement and maintenance works undertaken as Amey embarks upon a five-year renovation programme to upgrade the city’s highways infrastructure; it will then work to maintain it for the duration of the 25-year contract.

Up to 500 Sheffield City Council staff will transfer under TUPE to Amey once the contract starts. They will also be seeking local Sheffield businesses as their preferred supply chain partners.

Amey has also signed a one-year contract extension with Hampshire County Council to maintain 5,000 miles of roads and footways. The original seven-year contract began in 2008, meaning that the one-year extension will take it up to 2016.

Under the terms of the extended contract, which is worth £35m per year, Amey retains its responsibility for all aspects of road and footway maintenance in Hampshire. There is also the potential for Amey to secure two further one-year extensions, taking the contract to 2018. The term highways contract covers routine and planned maintenance of Hampshire’s highway network.

On the railways, meanwhile, Amey is preparing to deliver the UK’s first ever high output electrification project as part of Network Rail’s £700m programme to increase speed and capacity on the network after being awarded a five-year OMD (operate, maintain and deliver) contract to electrify the Great Western Main Line.

Amey and its supply chain “expect to recruit and train a total of 150 rail workers” to deliver the project along the line between Maidenhead and Cardiff, and spurs to Oxford and Newbury.

Discuss highway funding and more at LTT's Future of Highways Delivery North event on the 27 June