HA changes mean we will deliver a better service says leading contractor

16 July 2014

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Balfour Beatty major projects managing director Steve Tarr is relishing the opportunity to be able to make a difference to England’s roads.

The Infrastructure Bill is receiving its Second Reading in the House of Lords. The measures in the proposed legislation will both get Britain building the infrastructure it needs for the future and improve the country’s competitiveness.

A key plank of the Bill includes plans to transform England’s Highways Agency into a government-owned company and, as a consequence, put it on a more efficient footing.  The transformation of the Highways Agency in this way is a welcome first step in a longer journey to improve the quality and reliability of the Strategic Road Network. 

"The stop-start nature of investment in the network has limited the ability of our sector to plan ahead and look after and upgrade these vital routes in an effective manner."

The new proposals implicitly recognise that short term decision making is not optimal for UK infrastructure where planning, design and construction activities commonly extend across both annual budget cycles and different Government terms.  By its very nature, the asset has a long term life with benefits that accrue over many years and this demands a long term, whole life approach to investment.

As a leading provider of construction and maintenance services to the UK’s strategic road network, we anticipate that the roads reform elements of the Bill will deliver a better deal for users of motorways and trunk roads, while securing better value for taxpayers.For many years the stop-start nature of investment in the network has limited the ability of our sector to plan ahead and look after and upgrade these vital routes in an effective manner.

Enabling the Agency to operate as a corporation combined with the greater certainty of funding - delivered through an established roads investment strategy - should remove constraints on the ability of the Highways Agency and the construction sector to plan ahead and secure efficiencies. 

There are key advantages in taking a longer term perspective. A longer term view will increase supply chain confidence and increase possibilities for exploiting technological innovation and performance efficiencies. This would beneficially serve to enhance asset management skills and practices and to strengthen the UK supply chain more generally.

The proposed company model is simple and easy to implement. With less than one year until the General Election, it is vital there is no delay in implementing the legislation required to enable these important changes to be made.

Our industry is skilled, ready and already demonstrably delivering excellent highway infrastructure for the Highways Agency across the UK.  So let’s get behind the Agency and help it to deliver future schemes as effectively and efficiently as possible.  Ultimately and in time, the customer, that is, Britain’s road users will give their verdict.