May Gurney snatches Sussex roads victory

May Gurney has cleaned up on highways maintenance deals throughout Sussex.

The latest scalp is in West Sussex, where the county council maintenance programme is potentially worth around £250m.

It is expected that May Gurney will formally be awarded the contract at the end of this month.

Last year, the contractor toppled Colas off its perch to scoop neighbouring East Sussex County Council’s deal, potentially weighing in at £150m.

The West Sussex scheme is worth £25m a year and work on site is expected to kick off in July.

The contract will initially run for five years, but there is every possibility of one-year extensions to the contract up to a maximum of 10 years.

A project source said: “These long-term maintenance contracts, with 10 years increasingly becoming the norm, are great if you win them. But if you lose, you have to wait years before you can get another look in.”

This being the case, May Gurney’s victory will be all the more galling to the incumbent, Minerva Accord. Also having to wait years before they can get another crack of the whip are the other bidders for the West Sussex deal – Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, RCS and Ringway.

The source said: “May Gurney must be doing something right, because it wasn’t the cheapest on either West or East Sussex.”

In fact, it is understood that both deals were weighted 70% on quality and 30% on price.

The West Sussex scheme will cover around 4,000km, running from Crawley in the North to Chichester in the South.

The A23, A27 and M23 routes are managed by the Highways Agency and are the only roads not included.

The scheme includes maintenance work, as well as bridges and improvement schemes worth a maximum of £400,000 apiece.