Balfour Beatty, in a 50:50 joint venture with Welsh infrastructure company Jones Bros, has been awarded a £65.5m contract to design and construct the 9.8km Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass in North Wales.
The project for the Welsh Government will realign the A487 to improve journey time reliability and help economic development in the Arfon area.
The joint venture is committed to investing locally and it has an aim that 75 per cent of the money invested on the scheme will reach local Welsh suppliers.
The Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract includes a requirement to assist the Welsh Government with statutory processes including public consultation.
Subject to the completion of all these statutory processes and any public inquiry, construction is expected to start in late 2016 with completion by the end of 2018.
The bypass will be single carriageway and will have alternating two lanes in one direction and a single lane in the other.
It will involve the construction of 22 structures, including seven bridges. These include a crossing over the Welsh Highland Railway, a 300m viaduct over the Afon Seiont and a 280m viaduct over the Afon Gwyrfai and its flood plains.
The joint venture will start work this month taking the scheme through the design and planning stages. This will include public exhibitions and discussions with the project’s public liaison team, to provide accurate information relating to the scheme.
As part of the statutory process it is likely that a public inquiry will be held in the middle of 2016.
The joint venture will also be responsible for the aftercare of the landscape planting for a period of five years, following main works completion.
Computer-generated 3D visualisation modelling will be used in the public consultation process. It will also be used to help deliver an efficient scheme through a diverse supply chain and for high-quality maintenance after the scheme is complete.
Mark Farrah, Balfour Beatty Regional Managing Director, North and Midlands, said: “We have worked with the Welsh Government previously in delivering similar schemes at the Porthmadog bypass and Gelligemlyn upgrade works recently.
“Together and through our long and successful relationship with Jones Bros we will deliver a scheme which offers huge benefits to the local economy during and after its construction.”
Huw Jones, Managing Director of Jones Bros, said: “This is fantastic news for our local workforce and North Wales suppliers. It will provide many benefits to the region’s economy.
“Jones Bros operates on infrastructure, renewables and land remediation projects across the UK, and we are delighted to have won a contract of such significance right on our doorstep.
“This will be the fourth time we’ve worked in a joint venture partnership with Balfour Beatty on a major contract, having delivered the award-winning Porthmadog bypass ahead of schedule and with work currently under way on the Pen-y- Cymoedd Wind Energy Project, the biggest on-shore wind farm in England and Wales, and the Clyde wind farm extension We now look forward to starting work together on this latest project.”
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Notes to Editors:
1. 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), smart motorway and early contractor involvement (ECI) schemes.
Since 2009 Balfour Beatty has been in partnership with Skanska, Atkins and Egis to deliver the £6.2 billion 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 £105m Fiveways to Thetford A11 Dualling, £371 million A3 Hindhead Tunnel, the £88 million M4/M5 ‘Smart Motorway’ ,£360 million A46 Newark to Widmerpool Improvements, and the £445 million M74 Completion projects in Glasgow, (as part of Interlink M74 Joint Venture).
Major schemes currently being delivered include the £70m Dart Charge Toll Removal Works, £129m M3 J2 to J4a Smart Motorway, the £44m A1 Lobley Hill, the £127m Norwich Northern Distributor Road ECI, the £35m A21 Tonbridge to Pembury dualling and the £75m A63 Castle Street, Hull schemes. Balfour Beatty is also delivering the 30-year £550 million Aberdeen and North East Scotland road improvement project in consortium with Carillion and Galliford Try, and in England the £19m A47 ‘Postwick’ Hub, and the £10m Lincoln Link Road projects.
Balfour Beatty also operates over 1200 miles of the English 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 road technology maintenance contracts (RTMC) for the Highways Agency in the South West, North West and the Midlands. In Scotland, Connect Roads, part of Balfour Beatty, operates and maintains the M77/ Glasgow Southern Orbital (GSO) and Scotland TranServ, a Balfour Beatty Mouchel joint venture, is responsible for the management and maintenance of major trunk roads in south west Scotland.
2. Balfour Beatty’s UK and Ireland construction business (www.balfourbeattycsuk.com) is a leading integrator of complex, sophisticated and innovative projects that improve the UK’s and Ireland’s national infrastructure and an experienced provider of local and regional projects that help build lasting communities.
We offer a broad range of capabilities in construction, civil engineering and mechanical & electrical engineering services.
With offices throughout the UK and Ireland, we deliver a locally-focused service with the support of our national network of expertise and resources.
Balfour Beatty’s UK and Ireland construction business employs over 9,000 people.
3. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 36,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
Our main geographies are the UK, US, Middle East and South East Asia. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the world’s biggest shopping mall in Dubai, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
