Balfour Beatty Living Places has announced that it has been awarded an eight-year, £176 million contract by Buckinghamshire Council for the maintenance of highways assets across the county. There is an option to extend the contract for a further four years.

Balfour Beatty Living Places will work closely and collaboratively alongside the Council to provide a safe and resilient local road network, maintaining over 5,000 kilometres of highways, carriageways, footpaths, and cycle routes.

In addition, Balfour Beatty Living Places will also be responsible for delivering winter maintenance services for the local community and travelling public, as well as the operation and maintenance of the county's street lighting and key community assets including gullies and traffic signals.

The company will harness innovative solutions and materials such as reused rubber asphalt when laying new road surfaces to drive down carbon emissions and reduce waste, as well as installing electric charging points at its depots to facilitate its electric vehicle fleet, in line with Balfour Beatty's sustainability strategy, 'Building New Futures'.

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To ensure the continuous effective maintenance of highways assets across the county, Balfour Beatty Living Places will also establish an 'Operational Efficiency Hub' – a data-driven Hub to monitor all activities in real-time, track progress of works and capture data to drive further efficiencies across the network.

Balfour Beatty Living Places will also dedicate 50% of its spend to local businesses, and as part of its commitment to The 5% Club, will ensure a minimum of 5% of its workforce comprises of graduates, apprentices and trainees.

Steve Helliwell, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Living Places, said: "Today's announcement builds on our longstanding expertise and commitment to providing best-in-class highways maintenance services, whilst offering customer-focused solutions in a collaborative partnership.

"Wherever we operate, we go above and beyond for our customers with an unrelenting focus on leaving a lasting positive legacy for the communities we serve; working with local supply chain partners whilst also creating numerous apprenticeship and graduate opportunities."

Councillor Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council's Cabinet Member for Transport said: "We are pleased that, after a rigorous selection process, Balfour Beatty Living Places will be working with Buckinghamshire Council to provide a new model of highways services that meets our aspirations for a faster and more responsive service to best meet the needs of residents and road users. With their impressive track record of managing contracts of this nature, we are keen to embrace their expertise and experience, whilst realising their delivery of innovation and quality onto our network.

"We know how important the condition of our roads and footpaths is for local residents and this new contract will allow us to map out a detailed strategic plan for the future. We are focused on channelling our resources into making lasting improvements, whilst at the same time standing by our commitment to cut our carbon emissions and take the lead in adopting new and innovative techniques that achieve value for money."