Balfour Beatty awarded £200m highways contract

Balfour Beatty Living Places has been awarded Herefordshire Council’s £200 million highways maintenance contract.

Last July, the council’s cabinet agreed to begin the process to re-procure services which include highways maintenance and improvement, street lighting, traffic signals, street cleaning, parks and public rights of way, fleet maintenance and professional consultancy services.

Yesterday (13 June), following a cabinet meeting, the council revealed Balfour Beatty as its preferred bidder with Amey named as the reserve bidder and Costain Limited as second reserve bidder.

Geoff Hughes, director for places and communities said: “These are key frontline services and this procurement has sought commitments to ensure improvements and value for money, bring investment into the highways network, ensure services are responsive to the community and provide contribution to the regeneration of the economy and social capital in the county.

“We are pleased we were able to stick to a very tight procurement timetable. We had a field of extremely strong bidders and we’re genuinely thankful for the hard work they’ve put in to this process.

“I’d like to thank the bidders for their courteous, prompt and productive way they have all participated. I am confident that the resulting contract will achieve savings and help the council balance its budgets in the coming years.”

Work will now be undertaken to conclude the process and award the final contract in early July. Full details will be outlined in July with the new arrangements starting on 1 September.