Bath & North East Somerset has awarded a £49 million highway maintenance and improvements contract to VolkerHighways, announced on Monday this week.

The contract will start on 1st April 2019 and runs for seven years, with a possible extension of three further years, which would take the contract to £70 million.

Working with the Council’s Highway and Traffic Service, VolkerHighways will deliver routine and planned highway works, including safety repairs, resurfacing and surface treatments, as well as emergency response to road incidents, winter service, improvement schemes, road markings and temporary traffic management.

It will also provide gully cleansing, rural verge maintenance, event traffic management and drainage maintenance works.

Councillor Mark Shelford, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: “It is essential that all our critical services are delivered in an efficient and effective manner, and this contract allows the Council to maintain and improve its highway network, keep traffic flowing and make sure residents are kept fully informed when roadworks are underway.

“VolkerHighways will be using latest technologies to repair road surfaces and will be using operating systems that provide real-time information on repairs for greater efficiency. A new fleet will be made up of the latest low-emission compliant vehicles, as part of our commitment to a cleaner and greener city. VolkerHighways shares the same values and vision as Bath & North East Somerset Council, and I welcome this new contract.”

Alistair Thompson, Managing Director of VolkerHighways, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this new contract, which will allow us to continue our work maintaining areas of historical interest and outstanding natural beauty. We are committed to developing links with the local communities in which we work, and look forward to providing social value alongside the highest quality of highways maintenance service, within Bath & North East Somerset.”

Throughout the contract, VolkerHighways will also create two new local apprenticeships every two years, building on its five percent club commitment of ensuring five percent of its workforce are graduates, apprentices or sponsored students. In addition, more than 90 percent of the workforce and supply chain required to deliver the contract will be sourced

locally.

Bath & North East Somerset Council looks after 1,274 kilometres of roads, and on average spreads 2,800 tonnes of road salt each winter. It routinely cleanses 24,000 highway gullies and annually fills on average 4,700 potholes. The previous contract ran from 2008 and was with Atkins, which was taken over by Skanska in 2013.