Under the three-year contract, which has the option to be extended by an additional year, AECOM and Waterman will support the 20 councils that are members of the MHA on highway projects across the Midlands.
Under the previous four-year PSP contract, which was held by AECOM, MHA member councils benefited from more than £2.7 million in savings. Formed in 2007, the MHA was the first partnership of its kind in the UK. The alliance creates opportunities for local councils to collaborate in order to reduce costs and generate efficiency improvements in the delivery of highway services, as well as share best practices.
The new PSP contract will involve AECOM teams from six offices across the region working in partnership with Waterman Group’s secondment services division, involving secondment of 70 professional and technical staff. Together, the two companies will deliver a range of services, including major highway improvements, maintenance and road safety projects, town centre regeneration schemes and transport studies. Work starts immediately, with AECOM and Waterman working as part of an integrated team with MHA members to enhance their in-house design capabilities.
Phil Crossland, Chairman of the MHA, said: “On behalf of the MHA, I am delighted to confirm that AECOM, working with their partners, Waterman, have been awarded the Professional Services Partnership. The previous partnership was seen as a great success, and this award will allow our member authorities to continue to benefit from having access to the resources and expertise of one of the largest consultancies in the world. Work is starting on developing the ambitious plans for improving the partnership that were outlined in AECOM’s tender, and I look forward to the relationship going from strength to strength.”
Rory Poole, Director of Network Operations and Traffic at AECOM, said: “Winning the new PSP contract will enable us to build on the success of the previous four years, where the team delivered a range of successful projects and generated £2.7 million in savings for councils in the Midlands. We look forward to working with the MHA to help members deliver schemes that will benefit communities across the region.”
Chris Chaplin, MD of Waterman Aspen, the specialist secondment division within Waterman Group, commented: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with AECOM and members of the MHA for at least a further three years and build upon the success the partnership has achieved to date. The successful relationship we have developed with AECOM reinforces both companies’ position as market leaders in the delivery of highways and municipal engineering services in the Midlands.”
Under the previous PSP contract, the AECOM team delivered services for a variety of schemes in the MHA region. These include detailed design and site supervision for the A1139 Fletton Parkway project to improve capacity along the busy commuter route in Peterborough, as well as planning and design services for a new railway station in Ilkeston. Another MHA scheme, which encouraged people to use environmentally friendly travel options, won the prestigious sustainability award at the 2014 Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) awards.
Media contact:
Muna Al-Azzawi, Head of External Communications, AECOM
muna.al-azzawi@aecom.com
44 (0) 20 7798 5158
Or
Susan Nilsson, Director of Communications
Waterman Group
susan.nilsson@watermangroup.com
44 (0) 7467 955 513
About AECOM
AECOM is a premier, fully integrated professional and technical services firm positioned to design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets around the world for public- and private-sector clients. With nearly 100,000 employees — including architect…