A VolkerFitzpatrick-Kier joint venture has won a contract worth £119m for the main civils work on a new £200m mass passenger transit system at Luton Airport.
Separately, Austrian firm Doppelmayr has won contracts worth a total of £55m for the design, construction, commissioning and testing of the 2,1km transport system, which will run from Stirling Place close to Luton Airport Parkway station, to the Luton Airport terminal.
The contracts have been awarded by London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL), which is fully owned by Luton Borough Council, as part of plans announced last month to expand the airport from 18 million to 36-38 million passenger journeys every year, without an extra runway or any expansion of the existing one.
The civils works will include constructing viaducts, embankments, cut and cover works, station platforms and buildings and possibly some ancillary works such as car parking.
The works on the transport system are split into two lots and include guided track, rolling stock, signalling, mechanical and electrical services, platform screen doors and all associated works.
Having designed and constructed the system, Doppelmayr will operate and maintain it for a period of up to five years, with an option for LLAL to extend this by a further five years.
LLAL applied for planning permission last February for the £200m transport system, which would enable access to the airport from central London in 30 minutes and is due to be operational by 2021.
It said the procurement was carried out 'under a competitive dialogue procedure and delivering growth and investing in social values within the local area formed part of the award criteria supported by special conditions relating to the performance of the contract'.
LLAL added that the two successful contractors will be required to work together ‘and have the flexibility to evolve the design to deliver the overall scheme’.
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