Major Devon and Norfolk roads contracts reach shortlists

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Devon County Council is preparing a shortlist of bidders for its £129 million link road project in South Devon.

The 5 km road will be part of the A380 and will run from Newton Abbott to Torquay, bypassing Kingskerswell.

Firms including Interserve, Carillion and a Costain/Nuttall joint venture are believed to be bidding for the work. Balfour Beatty, which bought local firm Dean & Dyball earlier in the year, is also expected to submit a tender.

The job involves the design and construction of a 5 km two-lane dual carriageway on the A380 between the Penn Inn Roundabout at Newton Abbott and Kerswell Garden Junction at Torquay.

The work includes an over rail line buried tunnel, two over rail bridges and four under rail culverts.

A compulsory purchase order and side roads order has been issued for the scheme, which will involve the demolition of 11 properties. Nine of these are owned by Devon County Council.

Construction is due to start in August 2010 and the project will take three years to complete.

In the east of England, Norfolk County Council is finalising a shortlist of bidders for the long running £116.5 million Norwich Northern Distributor Road project.

At least three firms - May Gurney, Nuttall and Jackson Civil Engineering - are in the running for the early contractor involvement work.
 
The project experienced delays while planning applications and business cases were prepared.

The council declined to confirm any bidders but a spokesman told Construction News: "We've had lot of interest and we're happy with the bids received. There are some good competitive submissions."

The job has a controversial past. It was awarded to May Gurney last year as part of the council's framework. But the Department for Transport said the appointment was "potentially illegal" because the job was out of proportion to the framework's size.

Now the final business case will be submitted to Government on 31 October and it is hoped compulsory purchase orders can be issued in January.

A public inquiry is scheduled for September 2009 with a view to starting preliminary works in autumn 2010.

Norfolk County Council has agreed to contribute £3 million towards the development costs of the project, and the Community Infrastructure Fund will provide £21 million for the construction.

The rest of the funding will be confirmed once the business case is approved.