Balfour Beatty VINCI, the long-established joint venture between two global infrastructure leaders, today announces a Mott MacDonald SYSTRA joint venture as its design partner for its bid for the delivery of High Speed 2 (HS2).
Mott MacDonald, a British, global management, engineering and development consultancy company, and SYSTRA, a French, global consulting and engineering group have a successful, long-standing relationship in working together and perfectly mirror the cross-channel, long-standing relationship between British Balfour Beatty and French VINCI.
With a wealth of in-house design knowledge and expertise, Mott MacDonald SYSTRA has also pledged to utilise a local supply chain the length and breadth of the Midlands on all work undertaken. This reflects Balfour Beatty VINCI’s stance on using smaller, local companies to bring social and economic value to the local economies in which they operate.
SYSTRA’s flair and expertise on high speed rail systems, combined with Mott MacDonald’s engineering skills offer complementary knowledge to deliver all of the design requirements for Balfour Beatty VINCI’s HS2 bid.
Mott MacDonald has a long association with high speed rail projects around the world. The company has been involved in HS2 for over six years, providing a broad range of planning, engineering and environmental services as well as having played a key role on High Speed 1 as the government's representative. Internationally Mott MacDonald has been managing the engineering, environmental and public consultation activity on the Palmdale to Los Angeles section of the California High Speed Train Project and is undertaking engineering design on the Fresno to Palmdale section. The company has also been involved in Taiwan’s Taipei to Kaohsiung system; China’s expanding network and HSL Zuid in the Netherlands. It has also undertaken feasibility studies for a high speed network in India and a line that will connect Dresden in Germany with Ústí nad Labem and Litoměřice in the Czech Republic.
SYSTRA are recognised as the world’s expert in designing high speed rail systems with over 60 years’ experience in public transportation and involvement in every high speed rail line in France and 50% of those worldwide. With a growing portfolio of UK rail infrastructure projects including Crossrail and the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, SYSTRA was one of the original shareholders of London and Continental Railways and a member of Rail Link Engineering - the organisation responsible for the design and engineering of High Speed 1. SYSTRA is part of the design consortium with VINCI for the South East Atlantic High Speed line currently being constructed between Tour and Bordeaux.
In March 2016, Balfour Beatty VINCI was shortlisted for four civil engineering packages of work for HS2 worth a combined total of £3.3 billion to £5.4 billion; including Lot N1, the Long Itchington Wood Green Tunnel to Delta Junction/Birmingham Spur; Lot N2 the Delta Junction to West Coast Main Line Tie-in; Lot C1, the Chiltern Tunnels and Colne Valley Viaduct; and Lot C2, the North Portal Chiltern Tunnels to Brackley. In December 2015, Balfour Beatty VINCI was also shortlisted as one of the enabling works contractors in the running to win a share of High Speed 2’s £900m preparatory works, and was invited to tender in March 2016.
The successful contractors for the main civil engineering packages are due to be announced later this year with the enabling works expected to commence in 2017 ahead of the start of major civil engineering works on the first stage of the project between London and the West Midlands.
ENDS
Media enquiries to:
Antonia Walton
Balfour Beatty VINCI
+44 (0)207 963 2267
antonia.walton@balfourbeatty.com
www.balfourbeattyVINCI.com
Notes to editors:
Balfour Beatty VINCI represents a powerhouse for critical infrastructure across Rail, transport and other iconic projects in the UK and beyond. Balfour Beatty VINCI’s involvement in groundbreaking Design Build Finance and Operation (DBFO) projects offers a unique end-to-end asset knowledge that is crucial in developing the best solutions to the infrastructure needs of the UK.
Balfour Beatty and VINCI started working together over 30 years ago when both were members of the TransManche Link consortium which delivered the Channel Tunnel. Balfour Beatty VINCI has successfully bid and delivered a number of key projects on Crossrail and have recently been awarded a Smart Motorways Programme, starting with an 18km stretch of the M5.
