WORCESTERSHIRE contractors are among 18 firms awarded a share of £50m as part of the Highways Agency's Area 9 new Construction Management Framework.

The Area 9 Agency covers the trunk roads and motorways in the West Midlands, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Gloucestershire.

It is responsible for all planning and co-ordination issues and acts as the Highways Agency's cost adviser and project manager.

Alfred McAlpine and Tarmac Ltd, based in Worcester, John Martin Construction, in Droitwich, and Concrete Repairs Ltd and Pitchmastic PmB Ltd, in Kidderminster, are part of the management framework which will, initially, run for four years.

The specialist contract firms will deal with matters including general civil engineering, traffic management, carriageway resurfacing, safety fencing, bridge deck waterproofing, concrete repairs and cathodic protection.

The aim is to deliver maintenance schemes in Area 9 with a construction value of between £500,000 to £5m, with the estimated value of the contract over the next four years estimated at £50m.

"We aim to build on the success of pilots and see the development of a community of small and large contractors encouraging best practice and bringing quality, best price and better delivery of projects within the framework," said David Cropper, Highways Agency Area 9 service manager.

Schemes

The framework follows the two National Construction Management pilot schemes operating between 1999-2002, the second of which won the Highways Agency the title Client of the Year in 2001 in the Contract Journal Construction Industry Awards.