Friday, December 09, 2005

An Anglo-French consortium, comprising Laing Roads, Costain, Carillion, Mouchel Parkman, Jacobs-Babtie, VINCI and ASF has been formed in response to the Highways Agency’s call for a phased programme of improvements to the M25, and future operation and maintenance of the strategic orbital route.

The consortium will bid for the Highways Agency’s 30-year design, build, operate and finance programme.

Each of the organisations involved has an extensive track record within the roads sector, bringing high levels of expertise in operation and maintenance of both UK-based and international projects.

The consortium brings together the expertise currently employed by the Highways Agency to operate and maintain the full range of activities in the proposed M25 DBFO contract. Area 5 is operated and maintained by Mouchel Parkman and Carillion, while the VINCI Group and Jacobs-Babtie operate and maintain the Dartford Crossings.

Herve Le Caignec, the consortium’s Project Director, said: “The breadth of experience and expertise contained within the consortium will enable it to provide the Highways Agency with an innovative solution.

“The consortium is ideally placed to supply the full range of skilled people required to operate and maintain the M25 to the highest standards and we look forward making our prequalification submission in January 2006.”

Laing Roads 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, road and accommodation sectors.

Costain is an international engineering and construction company with a leading position in the UK transport sector. The Company's current portfolio includes the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Sirhowy Enterprise Way - a major PFI road project in Wales. Costain has recently been awarded road contracts worth more than £600 million of which nearly £200 million involves M25-related work.

Carillion is a leading provider of integrated solutions for buildings, infrastructure and services. As a FTSE 250 company with a turnover of around £2 billion and 17,000 employees, the Group delivers high-quality, cost-effective and sustainable solutions using its wide range of skills and resources. Carillion’s key target markets are transport (road and rail infrastructure), health, building, facilities management and support services for public and private sector customers.

Mouchel Parkman is a professional support services group.  As a public limited company with 5,500 staff, and a turnover of more than £300m, it helps clients in the public sector and regulated industry to provide better everyday services to customers and communities. Mouchel Parkman’s rare combination of professional, commercial and technical expertise enables it to help clients improve their strategy, services, people and asset management. It is a leading provider of highway services to the Highways Agency and local authorities as well as operating in rail, property, housing, education gas, water and management consultancy across a wide range of disciplines.

Jacobs Babtie is a leading technical and management consultancy. As well as being one of the UK’s largest professional services firms in the transport market, it operates in the following industry sectors: outsourcing and partnerships; planning and development; defence and industry; water and land environment; and internationally with operations in mainland Europe, the Middle East, India and China. It is part of the Jacobs group of companies, with more than 38,000 employees and revenues approaching $6.0 billion globally.

VINCI, world leader in construction, concessions and related services, generated net sales of £14 billion in 2004. VINCI operates all its business lines (Concessions, Energy, Roads and Construction) in the United Kingdom through its subsidiaries Ringway, VINCI plc (Norwest Holst), Lee Beesley, VINCI Park UK, Cofiroute UK and VINCI Construction Grands Projets. VINCI employs 4,700 people in the United Kingdom and generated net sales over £1 billion in 2004.

ASF has financed and operates France's largest toll motorway network, the second largest in Europe, totalling 3,124 kilometres. ASF is committed to public service missions that include making the motorways user-friendly, safe and economically viable, as well as demonstrating continuous innovation and genuine concern for people and the environment.