Weekly round-up 16 July 2016

Northern Line preferred bidder, Galliford Try buys Miller and options for rail west of Exeter revealed.

Jackie Whitelaw
16 July 2014

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1. Ferrovial/ Laing O’Rourke has been named preferred bidder for the £600M London Underground Northern Line Extension contract. Four JVs had been in the running for the scheme with those to miss out: Bam Nuttall / Balfour Beatty; Bechtel / Strabag; and a Costain /Dragados / Sir Robert McAlpine JV. Contract award is planned for next month (August).

2. Balfour Beatty has today been appointed by the Highways Agency for the £35M dualling and improvement scheme to the A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury in Kent. The scheme will deliver a 4km of dual carriageway on the main road link between London and Hastings, together with associated junction and road layout improvements, including two underpasses and an overbridge. Advance work is expected to start this autumn with main construction starting in spring 2015.

3. Galliford Try has bought Miller Construction for £16.57M. Galliford said the price “represents a very attractive valuation” for the £409m turnover business which posted a £4m operating loss last year. Miller Construction chief executive Chris Webster will not be transferring as part of the deal and has left the business.  Total turnover for the combined companies will be £1.25bn.

4. The air quality in some of the UK's biggest cities is unlikely to meet EU standards before 2030, according to the government. Member states were supposed to meet targets on pollutants from diesel cars and trucks by 2010. The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) they produce is linked to a range of respiratory ailments. But the European Court of Justice has heard that London, Leeds and Birmingham could still be above these goals in 2030.

5. An airport in the Thames Estuary would present a "considerable cost and risk to the taxpayer", according to reports published by the Airports Commission. London Mayor Boris Johnson has proposed an estuary airport on the Isle of Grain. Four studies into the feasibility of the airport have been published. They state airlines and passengers believe the scheme would carry "significantly more risk than opportunity". One of the reports also stated that explosives on a sunken World War Two munitions ship in the estuary, the SS Richard Montgomery, would need to be removed or treated before the airport could be constructed. More here.

6. House prices in June remained positive across the UK but the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) and the BoE rhetoric are having a drag on activity, according to the latest RICS Residential Market Survey. UK-wide, a net balance of 53% of respondents reported an increase in prices in June (from 56% in May) and prices rose in each of the twelve areas represented. The South East and Northern Ireland experienced the strongest price gains for the second consecutive month, meanwhile, the rate of price growth in the London market appears to be easing.

7. United Utilities has announced the successful bidders awarded contracts for the provision of construction and engineering services for the AMP 6 water sector capital investment period (2015 to 2020). The contracts, which could be extended to 2026, have been split into two categories – Construction Delivery Partners and Engineering Services Partners. The successful bidders are, for construction delivery partners, MMB (Mott MacDonald Bentley); C2V+ (CH2M Hill and VolkerStevin); Advance (Balfour Beatty and MWH); LiMA (Laing O’Rourke and Imtech, with support from Atkins). Contract for Engineering Services Partners has been awarded in full to Jacobs UK.

8. The Government’s Infrastructure Cost Review programme has delivered 15% of cost savings amounting  to £3.4bn a year on major projects. A report published by the Treasury shows better project planning, alliancing and work bundling has led to savings in the key infrastructure sectors for the third-year running. It said the potential for saving over the next ten years could add up to £50bn.

9. Scotland could host the UK's first dedicated base for spaceplanes, according to new government plans. Ministers want to establish the UK spaceport by 2018 - the first of its kind outside of the US. Eight aerodromes have been shortlisted and Scotland has six of the potential locations. For ministers and the space industry, the major interest in a UK spaceport is as a facility to enable satellite launches, but hopefully it would also become a centre for the new tourism initiatives from specialist operators such as Virgin Galactic and XCor.

10. Network Rail has published options for improving the rail route west of Exeter following the Dawlish collapse and flooding problems in the winter.  Options in the West of Exeter route resilience study are: 1 - base case' 2 - strengthening the existing railway; 3 - alternative route A on the fomer London & South Western route from Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton; option 4 - constructing a modern double track railway on the alignment of the former Teign Valley branch line from Exeter to Newton Abbot; and option 5 - five alternative routes for a direct line from Exeter to Newton Abbot. You can read it here.