As previously announced, More, a Spanish/Italian /Austrian joint venture, will build the new 13km highway, including a 3.3km tunnel. A joint venture of Mott MacDonald and Costain will make sure they do it right.
Contracts are now in place and the project has not even got planning permission yet. An initial attempt by National Highways to get a development consent order was thwarted by a High Court Legal challenge on grounds of failing to follow the required environmental procedures. Last month chancellor of the exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng revealed, in his Growth Plan, that the government intends to scrap these sort of environmental rules and make it harder for scheme opponents to launch legal challenges.
The planning application for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme is therefore still pending redetermination by the secretary of state for transport. The scheme is particularly sensitive not just because of the cultural significance of the mysterious stones but also the ecological habitats of the Wiltshire Downs.
In the meantime, to ensure programme timescales are maintained, National Highways has awarded its £60m delivery assurance partner contract to Costain and Mott MacDonald, who will oversee construction and ensure that the contractor sticks to the agreed design.
National Highways has also now signed a £1.25bn contract with More joint venture, comprising FCC Construcción, WeBuild and BeMo Tunnelling for the main construction work. More JV was announced as preferred bidder in May this year. [See our previous report here.]
The main works contract covers the construction of the proposed tunnel’s civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and technology components, including the tunnel boring machine, along with the approach roadworks and structures and the environmental components of the five-year construction phase.
National Highways project director Derek Parody: “The main works contract will only become live once the secretary of state has concluded the planning process. The announcement in no way pre-empts any decision, and once that is finalised, and should the development consent order be granted, having these contractors in place puts us in the strongest possible position to deliver this transformational scheme and deliver the benefits we know it can.”
Mott MacDonald transportation managing director Ken Norbury said: “We have assembled a world class multi-disciplinary team to support this vital upgrade project.”
Costain managing director of transportation Sue Kershaw said: “This award recognises our ability to apply our construction expertise to the delivery assurance partner role and we’re delighted that together we are creating connected, sustainable infrastructure that helps people and the planet to thrive.”
The contracts for archaeology and enabling preliminary work were announced in 2020, as part of the total £1.7bn capital cost of the scheme. Wessex Archaeology was awarded the £35m archaeological mitigation contract and Octavius Infrastructure (formerly Osborne) has an £8.5m preliminary works contract.
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