July 2009
Halcrow is set to take a leading role with one of the teams tendering for the Forth Replacement Crossing, the UK’s most significant bridge crossing in nearly 20 years.
Funded by Transport Scotland, the 2.7km Forth Replacement Crossing will be located to the west of the existing Forth Road Bridge, between North Queensferry and South Queensferry in Scotland. The crossing will provide a new high quality dual carriageway link across the Firth of Forth along with associated approach roads, junction improvements and an intelligent transport control system.
Halcrow is leading the design team Halcrow-COWI-Fairhurst JV, which includes Cowi A/S (incorporating Flint and Neill Ltd) and WA Fairhurst and Partners. The team is currently assisting Forthspan, a joint venture of Morgan Est, BAM Nuttall, Balfour Beatty and VINCI Construction Grands Projets, with the preparation of its prequalification questionnaire for submission in August.
Forthspan has been formed to prequalify and bid for the project with an estimated value between £1.7 billion and £2.3 billion. All four businesses have a solid record of delivering major infrastructure schemes in Scotland and throughout the world and will provide the full range of skills, resources and technical expertise required for such a large-scale project.
The Scottish Government is seeking planning approval through a Parliamentary Bill, expected to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament in November this year, in parallel with starting the design and build tender.
With award of the design and build contract in 2011, the new crossing is set to open in 2016. Stuart Withycombe, Halcrow’s project director and director of bridge engineering for the group commented: “The new bridge promises to be one of the worlds most inspirational and challenging crossings.
“We are extremely pleased to be part of the Forthspan team and are looking forward to working with our partners on what will be a fascinating and challenging, and we hope ultimately successful, tender for this exceptional project.”