Kier Highways has been awarded a six-month extension from Birmingham Highways Ltd (BHL) on its Birmingham Interim Services Contract (ISC).
The contract, which Kier was appointed to in April 2020, was initially due to run for 15 months (with the option to extend) and it includes the city’s traffic operations, planned and reactive maintenance, inspections and winter servicing. BHL have exercised their right to trigger the first extension option available under the contract and will consider further extension in the future.
Work is already underway to procure surveys, extend sub-contracts, identify programmes of work and develop a plan for the delivery of services during the extended period. This plan will include aspects of programmed maintenance, including the continuation of street lighting replacement, surfacing works and capital investment.
Joe Incutti, Group Managing Director for Highways, said: “We are thrilled that we have been awarded this extension, and it is testament to the contract teams hard work and expertise in delivering highways services for local authority roads. We look forward to continuing to provide safe and reliable highway services to communities across Birmingham.”
Kevin Hicks, Birmingham City Council’s Assistant Director for Highways and Infrastructure also welcomed the decision: “We have been pleased with Kier’s role in taking over for BHL since April last year, in difficult circumstances with COVID-19 and with a short mobilisation. They have been and continue to be an important part of improving Birmingham’s highway services for the future.”
Natasha Rouse, Chief Executive Officer of BHL said: “BHL is very pleased to be able to extend the Interim Services Contract with Kier. Our teams have built a truly constructive relationship, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Kier in improving Birmingham’s transport network.”
Since the start of the contract, 288,533 m2 of carriageways and nearly 82,476 m2 of footways have been repaired. This was in addition to ongoing management activities, which saw the team inspect 70,792km of roads, as well as installing 1387 new LED street lights and responding to 15,489 customer enquiries.
