McLaughlin & Harvey confirmed for £88m Hawick flood scheme

The scheme is designed to protect over 900 properties from a 1-in-75-years flood event.

The procurement exercise was launched early last year and saw four detailed tender bids put forward in November, which were then evaluated. Councillors voted unanimously in February to approve the appointment of McLaughlin & Harvey. Since then, there have been discussions about the start and completion dates for the scheme in light of the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the construction sector.

Over the last two years, £7.5m of advance works have been completed in the town, preparing the way for the main works contractor to start on the principal construction project. These works have also involved site clearance and the preparation of the scheme’s traffic management plans including the construction of a new access road.

The Hawick flood protection scheme has four aspects:

• the construction of the flood protection scheme itselt;
• the creation of a new active travel network of traffic-free footpath and cycleways;
• an upgrade to the A7 trunk road, at Commercial Road, to make it fit for the levels of traffic it now carries;
• the installation of a new high-capacity wastewater pumping station within the town’s treatment works to further alleviate the risk of sewage flooding during future flood events.

The total scheme costs will be £88m, including the main works contract. The council has estimated that, if the four projects were to be carried out independently of each other, the overall cost would be in the region of £101m.

McLaughlin & Harvey’s director of civil engineering Seamus Devlin said: “We are delighted and honoured to have been chosen to carry out the works on this major flood protection scheme. McLaughlin & Harvey is committed to excellence in everything we do and fully understand how important this project is to the people of Hawick and, indeed, to other flood protection schemes in the pipeline around the country. We look forward to working with the people of Hawick and the client team in order to deliver a world class flood protection scheme.”

Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk