Thursday, December 08, 2005

Laing Roads & Utilities, a division of John Laing plc and Viridor Waste Management Limited, (Viridor) wholly owned subsidiary of Pennon-Group Plc, have announced their intention to jointly bid for an integrated waste management contract (investment value £300 million) with the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA), the largest such scheme in the UK.  Viridor was short-listed by GMWDA in July 2005, following a pre-qualification process initiated earlier in Q1 2005. Laing has now formally joined the process.

If successful, the Viridor Laing consortium will assist GMWDA with their obligations under the EU Landfill Directive, achieving high levels of materials recycling and recovery and radically reducing the proportion of waste sent to landfill. This is aligned with Central Government strategy to encourage local authorities to utilise PFI credits to reach Landfill Directive targets.
  
Viridor Laing will provide a full range of waste management services through the PFI mechanism, including waste reduction, recycling, composting, treatment, recovery and disposal.  The two companies will also continue to explore opportunities for collaborating together in other waste PFI projects.

GMWDA currently operates and manages the UK’s largest waste management contract, covering the recycling and disposal of waste from across the Greater Manchester area and dealing with over 1.4m tonnes of municipal waste each year. Viridor Laing’s proposals will provide options for the redevelopment, refurbishment, operation and maintenance of a number of essential facilities including materials recovery facilities, an existing thermal recovery plant, transfer loading stations and household waste recycling centres. The contract is due to be let in April 2007.

“The waste sector presents Laing with the opportunity to utilise its skills and success in other areas of privately financed infrastructure,” commented Chief Executive of John Laing plc, Andy Friend.  “To date, there has been insufficient investment in the sector to ensure that waste disposal authorities meet their EU landfill targets in 2010 and beyond.  This is now set to change and we are very pleased to have team up with such an excellent partner for this very significant opportunity.”
 

Colin Drummond, Chief Executive of Viridor Waste Management Ltd said “The combined strength of Viridor Laing will enable us to offer practical competitive solutions for the needs of GMWDA.  The Viridor Laing combination brings together many years of complementary experience and expertise. We are delighted that we are in a position to offer services in this way on such a prestigious contract.”   

Editors Notes

About Viridor
Viridor Waste Management, specialists in operations and investment in the waste management sector, currently operates 158 waste processing sites across the UK, handling circa 8 million tonnes of waste each year.

About Laing
Laing Roads & Utilities is a division of John Laing plc, the UK’s listed market leader in PPP/ PFI infrastructure projects.  It currently invests in 49 PPP/ PFI projects in the rail, roads, utilities and accommodation sectors.

For further information please contact:

Dan Cooke, External Affairs Manager, Viridor Waste Management on 01823 721 400.

Or

Christine Jones, PR & Marketing Manager, John Laing plc on 020 7901 3290