Mace, the international construction and consultancy company, has won on a five-year contract to deliver commercial services on two of National Highways’ major projects through its Complex Infrastructure Programme (CIP).
Following Mace’s appointment to Lot 1 of the £420m National Highways framework for commercial and project management services in 2021, the company has been appointed as the Complex Infrastructure Programme (CIP) Commercial Partner on the delivery of both the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements, and the A303 Stonehenge between Amesbury and Berwick Down dualling scheme.
Mace’s work will involve delivering commercial services including cost consultancy and quantity surveying, as well as acting as a liaison between National Highways and its main contractors.
National Highways’ CIP is focused on delivering more complex and higher value improvement schemes, focused on nationally important infrastructure.
The work on the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements will see the construction of a new 10-mile dual carriageway and further junction improvements. The road is an important link between the communities of Bedford, St Neots, Cambridge and Cambourne, and is currently used by around 25,300 vehicles every day, with numbers expected to grow in the coming decades. Upon approval the project will cut journey times and reduce congestion on local roads between Milton Keynes and Cambridge, bolstering long-term growth in the region.
The improvements on the A303 Stonehenge Amesbury to Berwick Down will reunite the landscape through the World Heritage Site, creating a new dual carriageway with a tunnel and significantly reducing traffic through the area. The proposed work aims to unlock the south west, improving connections and creating faster, safer and more reliable journeys. The changes will also introduce significant environmental benefits, including creating new chalk grassland and enhancing biodiversity across the site.
The proposed upgrade of the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down includes:
12km of dual carriageway;
A tunnel at least 3km long underneath the World Heritage Site, closely following the existing A303 route
A new bypass to the north of the village of Winterbourne Stoke
Junctions with the A345 and A360 either side of the World Heritage Site
Last month, National Highways selected a joint venture comprising Spain’s FCC Construcción, Italian firm WeBuild and BeMo Tunnelling from Austria to deliver the £1.25bn contract for the tunnel, along with the main construction work for the A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down scheme past Stonehenge.
The contract is subject to final sign-off on the £1.7bn scheme by transport secretary Grant Shapps.
Jason Millett, CEO for Mace Consult, comments:
“This is a strategic win for Mace Consult and acknowledges the delivery expertise of our team. Acting as agile partners for National Highways, our key aim is to create better outcomes for our clients and the range of stakeholders on these significant projects.
“We pride ourselves on delivering distinctive value and challenging conventional thinking in our approaches. As a result, I’m confident that our hands-on approach to both these major infrastructure projects will help improve connectivity in these areas and make a tangible difference to these communities and their funders.”