{"id":33240,"date":"2024-12-09T16:08:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T16:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/cn\/projects\/a428-black-cat\/"},"modified":"2024-12-10T00:09:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T16:09:22","slug":"a428-black-cat","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/cn\/projects\/a428-black-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements scheme: enhancing connectivity in the East of England\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

The A428 between St Neots and Caxton Gibbet is the only stretch of single carriageway between the M1 near Milton Keynes and Cambridge, two of the UK\u2019s fastest growing cities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each day, over 25,000 vehicles<\/a> use this road \u2013 double its intended capacity \u2013 causing frequent delays and incidents. With considerable local housing and job growth expected, this number is likely to grow to 32,900 vehicles by 2040. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, National Highways (NH) launched the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements scheme. The scheme will create a new 10-mile dual carriageway with three major grade-separated junctions between the Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet roundabouts, significantly reducing congestion, improving safety and supporting regional growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our team was appointed to lead the preliminary design development and the complex Development Consent Order (DCO) application process for this transformative project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of its success to date, Chris Taylor-Dawson, NH Complex Infrastructure Programme (CIP) Director said: “The A428 team demonstrated an exceptional commitment to leadership and collaboration. AECOM\u2019s role was instrumental in ensuring the DCO\u2019s early acceptance, and the whole team should be very proud.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Setting strong foundations for success <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements scheme was initially part of NH\u2019s Regional Investment Programme (RIP) for the East region. However, after being classified a Tier 1 scheme<\/a> \u2013 which applies to nationally significant projects that typically require investments of over \u00a3500 million \u2013 it was transferred to NH\u2019s Complex Infrastructure Programme (CIP)<\/a>. It is the largest road project currently being constructed in the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the scheme\u2019s complexity, with coordination needed across five local authority areas and numerous stakeholders, a collaborative approach was essential from the outset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The A428 leadership team, comprising senior representatives from NH and its delivery partners \u2013 including AECOM \u2013 was established to introduce a new, collaborative way of working on the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by this shared purpose with clear ambitions from the start, and with the support of a behavioural facilitator and the IBIP (Improving Behaviours, Improving Performance) team, the group set up a collaborative structure, embedding collaboration from the top down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach was pivotal in setting strong foundations for success on the A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet improvements scheme, which was delivered in collaboration with NH, our supply chain and our contractor partners: Costain, Skanska, HW Martin and Walters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our role in securing early DCO approval <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The DCO process is notoriously complex and challenging, requiring input from professionals across multiple organisations and disciplines. This is why fostering strong collaborative behaviours from the start was key. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant part of our role was to prepare a robust and comprehensive DCO application. This involved approximately 20,000 pages of submissions in 257 documents, as well as drafting more responses for written and oral questions required for the examination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to our extensive DCO expertise, we were well placed to lead the team in preparing for and successfully navigating this process. To ensure effective collaboration, we held dedicated workshops on topics such as DCO examination preparation, efficiencies, resilience, lessons learnt and behaviours. We also organised a peer review when the A303 leadership team and A428 legal team ran a \u2018dummy\u2019 examination scenario under examination conditions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By co-locating staff at key stages, we were able to carry out integrated reviews to further speed up the process. As a result, we secured early acceptance of the DCO application \u2013 a major achievement for the scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of the A428 leadership team at the Black Cat office\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prioritising health, safety and wellbeing <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Given the high-pressured DCO environment, health, safety and wellbeing were a top priority throughout the project.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way of ensuring this was through the use of surveys and real-time reporting dashboards to manage staff work volume and identify any potential overburdening. This \u2013 as well as regular check-ins \u2013 was integral to managing workloads and minimising stress. This approach not only ensured individual support but also contributed to the overall programme\u2019s success, helping the team meet deadlines effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The health and safety of road workers and road users was also given highest priority during development of the preliminary design and DCO application documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of early contractor engagement <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another key factor for success was involving Tier 1 and 2 contractors from the early stages of design and planning, allowing us to incorporate their expertise in buildability, construction sequencing, earthworks and utilities design, traffic management planning and DCO documents. In addition to improving the scheme design and optimising construction methods, this also enhanced safety, quality and overall project efficiency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Value engineering workshops further enabled the team to review and challenge the design as it progressed against the scheme objectives. These sessions, involving NH staff, AECOM and our contractor partners, resulted in significant savings and efficiencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An image of the A428 Black Cat junction area taken from the fly-through digital model developed for the statutory consultation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Boosting stakeholder engagement through digital tools and innovation <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a scheme of this scale and impact, community engagement was essential to building trust and support and gaining public buy-in. To boost participation and deepen public understanding, we partnered with NH to develop and integrate innovative digital tools into the consultation process. Collectively, these increased engagement among people under 45 by 10 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n