Kier Highways has been handed responsibility for maintaining technology assets across the Highways England Area 13 network, where it has had the maintenance and response contract for the last three years.
This follows the end of Balfour Beatty’s northwest regional technology maintenance contract and is part of Highways England’s drive to include technology maintenance into its highway maintenance and response contracts, being rolled out across the country.
Kier is now looking after all the electronic devices installed within the fabric of the motorways and trunk roads in Area 13, including traffic flow sensors, CCTV cameras and overhead signals.
The technology element of the contract will remain in place for the next 11 years and is worth an extra £1m a year to Kier.
Four employees have transferred from Balfour Beatty to Kier as part of this change.
Prior to having the Area 13 maintenance and response contract, Kier was the managing agent contractor, under the previous procurement regime.
The Kier Highways Area 9 contract first trialled this new integrated model last year and its Area 4 maintenance and response (M&R) contract will start the integration of technology maintenance in 2022.
Highways England regional manager Dave Dickinson said: “The northwest region was the first Highways England region to add roadside technology maintenance into the asset delivery operating model and M&R contracts, which will result in safety, efficiency and customer service benefits for our customers. I’d like to thank Kier Highways for the help in delivering a smooth transition and the knowledge learned through mobilising this change will now be used to make the same change in all other Highways England regions in the near future.”
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