Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that it is part of a consortium which has been selected as preferred bidder for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty Project.
The Connect Roads consortium, comprising Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try, has been selected as preferred bidder for the design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) contract to deliver the project for Transport Scotland in partnership with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils.
Balfour Beatty will invest up to £20 million, which represents a one third share of the sponsor’s investment requirement, with Carillion and Galliford Try also investing one third each. The project is being procured under the Scottish Government’s Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model and work is expected to be underway later this year with completion expected in spring 2018.
The project, which is estimated to be in the region of £745 million, includes the design and construction of 46km of new dual carriageway between Stonehaven and Charleston in the south, and Blackdog in the north, and a further 12 km of upgraded existing dual carriageway between Blackdog and Tipperty. The contract also includes the construction of 40 kilometres of new side roads, 30 kilometres of access tracks and 72 new structures, including two significant focal point bridges over the rivers Dee and Don.
Construction activities will be conducted by Balfour Beatty’s UK construction business, Carillion and Galliford Try in an equal joint venture.
In 2018, once the construction is complete, the trunk road assets will be managed and maintained by Balfour Beatty on behalf of Connect Roads for 30 years.
Balfour Beatty has a strong presence in the transport market across the UK and has significant experience of strategic road improvement contracts in Scotland, including the M77/Glasgow South Orbital DBFO and the M74 completion. Through Scotland TranServ, it is also responsible for the management and maintenance of trunk roads in the south west of Scotland, including the major River Clyde crossings at the Kingston and Erskine bridges.
Steve Marshall, Balfour Beatty Executive Chairman, said: “We are delighted to be appointed preferred bidder with our consortium partners to deliver this major construction contract, the largest NPD project to be undertaken to date. Balfour Beatty has a strong Scottish heritage and together with Transport Scotland and both Aberdeen Councils, we will use our expertise to complete this long-awaited scheme that will provide substantial benefits to the city of Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland. This appointment underlines our commitment to investment in infrastructure in the UK.”
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Notes to editors:
1. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.
Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK and the USA, with developing businesses in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, South Africa and South East Asia.
With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors focus on infrastructure - transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, water and complex buildings (both commercial and social).
Balfour Beatty employs 40,000 people around the world.
2. The Scottish Government's Non-Profit Distributing (or NPD for short) model is a contract for public infrastructure projects which seeks to cap the returns made by the private sector when delivering public assets. This contract model is being used for projects in a £2.5 billion programme of investment by the Scottish Government (the NPD pipeline).
3. Balfour Beatty is a leading road designer, constructor, asset manager and maintenance provider in the UK. Projects carried out include traditional work through to the more complex design-build-finance-operate (DBFO) and early contractor involvement (ECI) schemes. Since 2009 Balfour Beatty has been in partnership with Skanska, Atkins and Egis to deliver the £6.2b M25 DBFO project for the Highways Agency, including the widening of the motorway to four lanes and conversion to all-lane running, or ‘smart’ technology. Other schemes delivered recently include the £371m A3 Hindhead Tunnel, the £88m M4/M5 ‘smart motorway’ scheme and the £360m A46 Newark to Widmerpool Improvement Scheme. Balfour Beatty currently also operates the strategic road network on behalf of the Highways Agency in Area 4 (Kent, Surrey and East Sussex) and Area 10 (Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside), and operates the latest generation technology contract for the Highways Agency in the North West. Through its partnership with leading financial institutions at Connect Roads, Balfour Beatty maintains and upgrades parts of the A30/35, A50, CNDR, the M1-A1 link as well as operating parts of the M77 motorway and the Glasgow Southern Orbital (GSO) between the M77 and East Kilbride, in addition to operating several local authority street-lighting contracts.
