Cumbria to retender £144m Carlisle Southern Link Road

Morgan Sindall Infrastructure had been primed to deliver the project but its bid for the main package of work “significantly exceeded the project budget”, prompting the county council to look elsewhere. 

The 8km road features four roundabouts and three bridges and will connect Junction 42 of the M6 with the A595 at Newby West.  

The £144m infrastructure project, which has been awarded £134m from Homes England, is designed to unlock Carlisle City Council’s St Cuthbert’s Garden Village, a 10,000-home development. 

Cumbria County Council appointed Morgan Sindall to deliver enabling work for the Carlisle Southern Link Road, with a view to signing up for the second stage of the project, a contract understood to be valued at £65m. 

However, having completed phase one, Morgan Sindall will not take the scheme through to completion after the county council declined its offer for the job, which came in over budget.

Cumbria had been deliberating whether to accept the offer since March. At a cabinet meeting earlier this year the authority deferred its decision citing “ongoing uncertainty associated with supply chains, the cost of construction materials and rising energy costs, caused by a number of factors including Brexit and Covid, and which was being exacerbated by recent events in Ukraine”. 

No timeline has been set for the appointment of a new contractor. 

Cumbira County Council and Morgan Sindall were contacted for comment.