Birse joint venture wins £106m A11 deal

A joint venture of Birse and consultant Mouchel has turned up trumps on a crucial road scheme in East Anglia, worth around £106m.

The Highways Agency (HA) job is to upgrade the A11 between the Fiveways roundabout in Suffolk and another roundabout at the southern end of the Thetford bypass in Norfolk.

Four other contractors in tandem with consultants are now left by the wayside - these are May Gurney/Faber Maunsell; Sir Robert McAlpine/Atkins; Skanska/URS and Costain/Halcrow.

A start date on site for the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) project is not yet available as there will have to be a public inquiry into the scheme before it gets the final green light.

The job is expected to take about two years to complete.

The work entails dualling a 14.8km stretch of the A11, which is the last remaining single carriageway section on the strategic M11/A11 route to Norwich, linking Norfolk and the rest of eastern England.

Other features include improvements to the Fiveways roundabout, a bypass for Elveden village and access bridges to help farming operations.

The HA said that the final part of the widening scheme is essential to ease chronic congestion on the A11, especially during holiday periods.

Jacobs is now supervising the project after the HA replaced its original choice, Parsons Brinckerhoff.