This £6.2 billion programme delivered a comprehensive package of road widening and network improvements to increase capacity and enhance the safety, resilience and reliability of the M25 – one of Europe’s busiest motorways.
Carrying more than 220,000 vehicles per day on some sections, the M25 is critical to the UK economy. In May 2009, the Highways Agency (now National Highways) awarded Balfour Beatty a 30-year Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contract to manage the motorway and its key arterial link roads.
The scope of works included routine maintenance, lifecycle renewals and major improvement schemes, alongside the delivery of 62km of motorway widening ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games and a further 46km of Smart Motorway upgrades.
The Smart Motorway programme permanently converted the hard shoulder into an additional running lane, significantly improving journey time reliability. Works included the installation of new infrastructure and technology such as motorway-spanning gantries, refuge areas, emergency telephones, overhead signals, verge-mounted signs and CCTV systems. A contiguous piled retaining wall was also delivered by Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering.
contract length
contract value
of landfill removed from the entire site
of the M25 through Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire improved
The final section of roadworks was completed 14 weeks ahead of schedule, following the earlier completion of Junctions 23–25 in Hertfordshire and Junctions 5–7 between Kent and Surrey, which opened 22 weeks early in spring 2014.
This accelerated delivery was achieved through the extensive use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), enabling early identification and resolution of design challenges while providing National Highways and key stakeholders – including Network Rail – with real-time visibility of design and construction progress.
Balfour Beatty continues to work in joint venture with Skanska at Junction 30, delivering further capacity and traffic flow improvements. Today, Balfour Beatty operates and maintains the entire M25 alongside AtkinsRéalis and Egis under the ConnectPlus brand.
As part of the consortium’s long-term maintenance approach, our in-house teams developed a custom-designed, vehicle-mounted vacuum litter picker. This innovation improves efficiency while significantly enhancing workforce safety by removing the need for manual litter picking on live carriageways.
Balfour Beatty's patented King Sheet Piling system was used extensively during the M25 widening and has since gone on to be incorporated in many of our Smart motorway contracts. Find out more in the short film below.
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Inventor David Baker explains how Balfour Beatty's patented King Sheet Piling system (KSP) is already reaping rewards. David's revolutionary earth-retaining wall system typically saves 35% to 40% of the materials while reducing the noise and installation time, yet achieves the same result. Subtitles available. For more information, please visit the KSP website at: http://www.balfourbeatty.com/ksp #expertengineers