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Scape Group appoints Balfour Beatty for £2.1 billion civil engineering frameworks

Scape Group, the public sector procurement specialist, has appointed Balfour Beatty for each of its next generation civil engineering frameworks, valued at a combined total of £2.1bn. 

The firm has been appointed to the Scape National Civil Engineering framework, valued at £1.6bn and covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland and also for the Scape Civil Engineering - Scotland framework, valued at £500m. The appointments follow competitive and rigorously assessed tender processes that were compliant with UK, EU and Scottish procurement regulations. 

Each framework will operate for a total of four years and will provide direct access for any public sector organisation to a principal contractor for civil engineering and infrastructure projects with values between £50,000 and £100m+. As direct award frameworks, they will each be led by Balfour Beatty and delivered with essential sub-contracting through extensive local supply chains. 

The two new frameworks will replace the existing Scape National Civil Engineering and Infrastructure framework, which expires in January 2019, awarded with a value of £1.5bn. Since its launch in 2015 the framework has been widely adopted by the public sector, with over 130 civil engineering projects commissioned across the UK to date. The framework has achieved 87% of its spend value within 40 miles and 98% of framework subcontractors were SMEs. 

Victoria Brambini, managing director at Scape Procure, commented: “This was a highly competitive procurement and the quality of bids for both frameworks were extremely high. Balfour Beatty demonstrated the right combination of civil engineering expertise and capacity in both regions and were able to provide outstanding commitment to add value through innovation and investments that will enhance the levels of private sector spend on community benefits and social value, including significant opportunities for local small businesses to engage in public sector construction.   

“We worked closely with local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) to develop each framework. Our public sector clients require partners who can engage early, get to site quickly and are committed to delivering consistent levels of quality, cost certainty, local engagement and social value. We are confident our next generation civil engineering frameworks will continue to meet the highest expectations of our clients on even the most complex of projects.  

“We have increased the total value of our civil engineering frameworks to £2.1bn to reflect the strong national pipeline of major infrastructure projects and created a dedicated Scottish framework, to reinforce our commitment to local delivery in Scotland, not least to ensure complete legislative compliance with regional variances. We are passionate about delivering social value in all areas of the UK, and we believe in local solutions that will unlock the true value of infrastructure investment for local communities.”

The bidding process began in February when Scape said the decision to create a separate lot for projects in Scotland reflected “the clear commitment of the Scottish Government to further their investment in infrastructure”.

Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty Group chief executive, said: “These frameworks enable us to build on our strong partnership with Scape. Our engineering and project management expertise coupled with our detailed regional knowledge supports Scape’s delivery of a wide range of rapidly mobilised infrastructure projects. Through our partnership we will continue to deliver added social value for the communities in which we operate by creating apprenticeship and trainee programmes, developing local supply chain spend and employment opportunities, and helping local authorities unlock vital regional growth.”

If you would like to contact Andy Walker about this, or any other story, please email awalker@infrastructure-intelligence.com.