McAlpine on road with £200m win
ONE of the latest disciples of the Government's Private Finance Initiative, Alfred McAlpine, has won what it reckons will be a £200m contract to look after some of the worst traffic delay blackspots in the country.
The Highways Agency has awarded Management Agent Contractor (MAC) status to AMScott, McAlpine's joint venture with transport consultant Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, for its new Area 7, covering about 335 miles of roads in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
The agency says: 'Area 7 includes some of the heaviest trafficked routes in the country, such as the M1, A1 and A38, where accidents and incidents can lead to lengthy delays.'
The contract, which starts this summer, beefs up McAlpine's new infrastructure services group, its PFI business which it regards as driving the group forward after last year's £463m sale of its housebuilding operations to Wimpey.
The contract runs over four years with the option of another three years.
McAlpine said today its forward order book now totals £2.1bn with last month's announcement of a £300m embankment building contract on the Great Western rail network.
The Highways Agency is busy redesignating its MAC contracts for its new network of areas, other recent assignments having gone to the WS Atkins-Accord Jarvis venture Optima; the Carillion joint venture with URS of the US; and Amey and its roads partner Mouchel Consulting.
