Skanska won the job through the Highways England regional delivery partnership (RDP), for which it is a delivery integration partner for the East of England and Midlands regions. The RDP framework was set up in 2018 with embedded incentives to minimise disruption to traffic during the works. This is Skanska's first contract under the framework.
Skanska will work as main contractor alongside consulting engineer Mott MacDonald. Mott McDonald has already begun design work on the project and construction is expected to start later in the year.
The scheme is designed to increase capacity for local economic expansion, reduce congestion and pave the way for the planned HS2 station.
On top of the £143m construction costs, Highways England is spending £101m on buying land and preliminary utilities work. Total project cost is £282m.
Skanska highways director Glennan Blackmore said: “This is the first regional delivery partnership contract we’ve entered into and we are very excited to be working with Highways England to deliver this key upgrade. Highways England have been developing plans to improve this link for a long time and we are delighted to be helping them realise their ambition, which we hope will benefit the public enormously.
“We are looking forward to delivering this project and ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the road network, along with supporting economic growth in the area for our customer and the public.”
Highways England senior project manager Jonathan Pizzey said: “This is a major upgrade to improve the M42 junction 6 near Solihull because the junction has almost reached capacity, causing severe congestion and delays across the network. Highways England’s proposed improvement scheme would provide a comprehensive upgrade of the junction near Birmingham Airport, allowing better movement of traffic on and off the A45, supporting access to the airport and preparing capacity for the new High Speed Two station.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
