Skanska and Laing win £65.5m Surrey streetlighting deal

A consortium of John Laing and Skanska has finally seen offf Balfour Beatty Power Networks to clinch Surrey County Council's £65.5m street-lighting private finance initiative (PFI) deal, in one of the longest run PFI procurements.

The scheme, advertised in 2004, chose a shortlist of three bidders - John Laing/Skanska, Balfour Beatty; and Vinci - in 2005. This was whittled down to two in 2006.

A spokesman said the procurement took time to complete as the deal was "so complex."
The massive deal involves replacing 74,000 of the county's streetlights over a five year phase from 2010 to 2015. The full maintenance contract will extend for 25 years.

The new lights will be brighter and cut down on light pollution, using the latest technology.

Seventeen companies originally expressed an interest in the project.