EnterpriseMouchel makes regional debut

2 July 2010 08:39 Comments (0)

Civil engineering joint venture EnterpriseMouchel has won its first work in the North West, the £149m five-year road maintenance contract for the Highways Agency in Cumbria and north Lancashire.

EnterpriseMouchel replaced another of Mouchel's joint ventures, with Amey, on the contract and 250 staff transferred to the new supplier yesterday, 1 July. EnterpriseMouchel has its national headquarters in Manchester and in total around 325 staff in the region will be helping deliver the contract.

The work will be managed from a new 15,000 sq ft office in Penrith as well as an existing base in Garstang.

Enterprise Mouchel already runs two other Highways Agency maintenance contracts in Devon and Cornwall and Hampshire. The Highways Agency awarded the contract based 70% on quality and 30% on price.

The Cumbria and north Lancashire contract covers maintenance of 260 miles of roads and bridges in the area including the M6 and M55 motorways, the A66, A590 and parts of the A585 and A595. The contract includes providing repairs, routine maintenance and network inspections, winter services including salting and snow clearance, small improvements and renewals and road lighting and traffic signal maintenance.

Bob Baldwin, the Highways Agency's area performance manager for Area 13, said: "Highways Agency staff in Manchester have worked hard over the last two years to secure a contract which will provide good value for public money.

"While the new contact will also deliver a high degree of continuity in the relationships we have developed over the last 11 years it also raises our expectations of our contractor in helping us deliver safer roads, more reliable journeys and better information for road users."

Keith Jackson, chairman of EnterpriseMouchel, said: "Our new contract headquarters in Penrith has opened in time for the launch of the new contract and represents our commitment to investing in the people, systems and technology needed to deliver the high quality of service the Highways Agency expects for road users."