Highways Latest News

Midlands Highway Alliance announces Contractors for £98m Framework

The Midlands Highways Alliance (MHA), made up of ten councils and the Highways Agency, has selected four contractors to service the key contract in a package of several new highway construction and maintenance frameworks. The successful contractors for the MHA Medium Schemes Framework are Balfour Beatty/Birse (Joint Venture), Carillion, Osbornes/Aggregate Industries (Joint Venture) and Tarmac. The winners of the contract were unveiled at the MHA’s Programme Board Meeting at the Loughborough Innovation Centre on November 9^th.

The Medium Schemes Framework is for new highway schemes each valued at up to £8.0m. The MHA estimates that its local authority members will procure projects worth around £48 million through this new framework in the first year with the Highways Agency procuring a further £50m.

The Medium Schemes Framework is available to all highway authorities, along with the Highways Agency, in the East and West Midlands Regions, together with those adjacent authorities in neighbouring regions.

By working together, the MHA aims to reap efficiency gains of up to 10%, speed up the procurement process and deliver schemes to a higher standard. The spend through the framework is expected to increase up to £150 million in following years as public bodies are placed under greater pressure to realise efficiency gains in the face of spending constraints.

Higher quality projects are also a priority as the Alliance will share innovation and performance data across its members, improve working practices, and aid workflow throughout the supply chain.