Trunk and local roads will be managed and maintained from county council depots in Cornwall, under an agreement struck with the Highways Agency’s new contractor.
AccordMP was this week awarded the £25M contract for day-to-day management of Area 1, which covers Devon and Cornwall. The managing agent contractor (MAC) will maintain the A30 and A38 west of Exeter for four years from September, with a possible three-year extension. Encouraged by the HA, which is leading the national drive for efficiency savings in all road procurement, AccordMP and Cornwall are committed to collaborative working (Surveyor, 23 February 2006).
Apart from co-location on county premises, the MAC and county highways team, Cormac, have reached a commercial agreement on sub-contracting. Cormac would carry out local network improvements, renewals and other works. It could also provide incident response and other back-up, said ~David Wright~ deputy managing director of Accord MP.
Joint procurement of salt and other supplies, vehicle maintenance, and shared training are among other proposals under discussion. ‘There are efficiencies to be had on both county and trunk roads,’ said Arthur Hooper, operations director of Cormac. ‘It’s all about sharing skills.’ AccordMP may be better placed to carry out safety fencing work on the local network, for example. The contractor might also buy in design services under Cornwall’s top-up agreement with Mouchel Parkman, which owns half of the new company.
AccordMP was formed to provide the integrated management and maintenance service required by the HA and some local authorities. It was also a response to their efforts to work more closely together under the Government’s Gershon efficiency savings initiative. Devon’s network is maintained by South West Highways.
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