Highways Agency - General - Greater London, M25 Project Shortlist Released

Date: 17 Oct 2006

A shortlist of construction and finance firms to tender for a major M25 scheme has been announced.
The Highways Agency has announced a shortlist of construction and finance companies to tender for the M25 Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contract.

Comprising the phased widening of 63 miles of the M25 to four lanes in both directions, this GBP5 billion project was first proposed in 2004 and is to be carried out between 2008 and 2016.

The shortlisted firms are made up of three groups: Amey, Laing O'Rourke and Ferrovial Agroman; Connect Plus (Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Atkins Ltd and Egis Projects SA); and Flow (Vinci, Autoroutes Du Sud De La France, Laing Roads Ltd, Carillion, Costain, Ringway, Mouchel Parkman, Norwest Holst and Jacobs).

Final tendering will take place in early 2007, with the contract to be awarded in 2008.

The new lanes will help to improve traffic flows on the M25, which is one of the world's busiest roads and on which users tend to experience poor journey time reliability, especially at peak times.

The contractor will also be required to keep the motorway and its structures in good condition over a 30-year period.

Delivery of the widening will be co-ordinated with other improvements in traffic management to lock-in the benefits of widening, such as the introduction of variable speed limits to smooth traffic flows in busy periods.

Widening will take place within existing highway land and the work will be carefully planned and coordinated to reduce delays on traffic as far as possible.

While the 2012 Olympic Games are underway, it is expected that widening works will be suspended.

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