The Highways Division has today successfully secured a four year partnering contract with the Northern Ireland Roads Service Consultancy, Roads Service’s in-house provider of consultancy services.
The contract marks a change for the Northern Ireland Roads Service from its existing approach, using a framework of consultants, to a single service provider, with Owen Williams as key consultants. It is anticipated this approach will create a closer working partnership that will enable the authority to more efficiently and effectively meet its objectives.
Owen Williams,will provide an extensive range of services to complement the organisation’s existing in-house services, including highways and transport design together with construction and supervision services for Northern Ireland’s roads, bridges and footways.
The contract is worth around £6 million over four years and will see Owen Williams open a new office within the region.
The new single consultancy partnership arrangement will enable Owen Williams to meet the Northern Ireland Roads Service objectives by being able to provide an efficient response to fluctuating work loads through collaborative working between the two teams and develop a best value alternative to current tendering procedures, whilst creating an integrated and seamless approach to project delivery.
The Roads Service is the sole road authority in Northern Ireland and is responsible for just over 24,800 kilometres of public roads together with about 8,200 kilometres of footways and 6,000 bridges.
The new contract is Owen Williams's third success this month following their appointment, in partnership with Skanska, of a £119 million ECI project on the M1 and their appointment in a key role within the unique £500 million PFI contract awarded by Portsmouth City Council.