Amey has been named as the highways maintenance and response contractor for Area 10 in a 15-year contract worth £325 million for Highways England. This key road network serves the North West of England, connecting the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, and surrounding areas.
From April 2019, Amey will be providing all routine and cyclic maintenance on the trunk road and motorway network around Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and South Lancashire. Responsible for incident response, defect rectification and severe weather treatment, Amey will also be in charge of traffic management during incidents and the operation of the five main depots in the region, as well as seven winter-only depots.
Amey already maintains Highways England Area 7, ensuring 4.5 million citizens across the East Midlands experience reliable journeys every day on its 787-kilometre network, and is responsible for designing maintenance and improvement schemes for nearly 658 kilometres of strategic road network in Areas 13 and 14.
Under the new contract there will be a greater focus on bringing services in house, including winter maintenance. To deliver the service, Amey will be recruiting 45 new employees from the North West to join the present team across a variety of roles.
Andy Milner, Chief Executive of Amey said: “We are pleased to have been awarded this key contract by Highways England. Working together, listening and learning from our clients and customers, we have reshaped our Highways business to put collaboration and service delivery at the heart of our approach. This approach is the basis of developing the Area 10 collaborative model with Highways England and the supply chain to deliver services for the communities of the North West.”
Andy Milner added: “Over the next 15 years, we will be expanding our workforce, developing local skills and adopting new ways of working which keep our employees and our supply chain from harm, and encourage a more diverse workforce of the future. I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to Amey and making Area 10 an exemplar for asset management and maintenance.”
Highways England’s executive director of operations, Nick Harris, said: “We recognise that how we maintain our roads and respond to incidents are extremely important issues for drivers. By working more closely with our supply chain colleagues who carry out these activities, we will be able to work more effectively, identify innovative ways of working and provide the best possible quality of service to our customers.
“We’re committed to driving improvement and strengthening our regional expertise. We are delighted to welcome Amey to our North West Asset Delivery supply chain community and look forward to establishing a successful, long-term relationship with them.”