Member Article

Road to success as contractor awarded National Highways projects

A tier one contractor has been awarded four projects worth a combined value of £20m by the National Highways as part of its office and depot upgrades.

Morgan Sindall Construction was selected to complete the works which will take place at four sites within Area 9 which takes in the areas of Gloucester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcester and Herefordshire.

The development is part of the National Highways’ plans to improve its depots throughout England. It will be the first time they adopt a ‘hub and spoke’ model, which will see them build or upgrade satellite offices at their roadside depot locations.

Work has already started at Warndon, which involves the refurbishment of the existing office area and provision of a refurbished car park area. Morgan Sindall Construction will also begin work this month at Bescot, Doxey and Strensham depots.

At Bescot, a new two-storey office building will be provided with associated external works, including the removal of the existing buildings from site. Doxey also involves the provision of a new build two-storey office building with associated external works. Finally, Strensham includes a new build garage and salt barns with the refurbishment of the existing office and amenity space and the removal of the existing salt barn.

The new buildings will serve a multiple purpose, housing the local operational teams, non-operational personnel and visitors. To enable a flexible and agile performance, the design of the ground floor focused on providing the operational staff with all necessary amenities to function effectively when in these buildings. A shared canteen will be installed to promote staff interaction and further integration and ensure there is knowledge of what each team is doing.

The contractor will work in collaboration with project manager Gleeds and architect Harris Partners as well as National Highways’ maintenance and response partner, Colas.

National Highways Head of Service Delivery, Colin Lowther, said: “Once the work is completed, the look and feel of the depots will change to appear more like a modern National Highways workplace enabling operational and non-operational staff as well as contractors to work more closely alongside each other and encouraging interaction and collaboration between the teams.

“It was important to us to not only improve the facilities for our staff and offer a flexible space but also to improve safety which is always our number one priority. Segregating vehicle movements between operational and office staff will help keep people safe at the depots.

“We are pleased to be working with Morgan Sindall Construction and our partners on this project and welcome, in particular, the commitment to reducing carbon where possible in carrying out the work.”

Richard Fielding, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We’re very proud to be working with National Highways to improve the working conditions of people who carry out vitally important work.

Most of the projects will remain operational during construction so we will be working collaboratively with our partners to ensure we deliver the upgrades without disruption. Whilst all the projects will be different, we have created a component lead depot blueprint in order to streamline the process and replicate their success.“ Each of the four projects have been procured through SCAPE, one of the UK’s leading public sector procurement authorities.

SCAPE’s group chief executive, Mark Robinson, said: “We are delighted to be working with our partner, Morgan Sindall Construction helping to accelerate the project forward and deliver much-needed facilities for National Highways. Once complete, these four projects will be excellent examples of how contractors can collaborate effectively with the client and partners to reduce their carbon footprint and meet net zero ambitions, while also delivering exceptional social value within the community.”

As part of its Net Zero goals, Morgan Sindall Construction has run its Carbonica tool to reduce carbon where possible. Carbon saving initiatives in the build include LED lighting, solar panels, air source heat pumps, PIR zone control sensors and highly efficient M&E packages.

As week as engaging with a high proportion of local labour and build on its commitment to the community, Morgan Sindall Construction will also work carefully to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum for local residents, with special attention given to works to ensure they are delivered respectfully and sympathetically.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .