Friday, July 03, 2009 02:00 CET
Skanska Laing Consortium announced Preferred Bidder for Surrey Street Lighting PFI.
Skanska and John Laing under a 50/50 consortium, today announce they have been appointed Preferred Bidder for the £74 million Surrey Street Lighting PFI scheme. For Skanska, this contract marks the entrance to a new PFI market in the UK, while John Laing has existing contracts with Walsall, Wakefield and Manchester.
The client for the project is Surrey County Council. Under the contract, the Skanska Laing Consortium will be responsible for the design, build, finance and operation of the stock of lighting columns across the Surrey County for a period of 25 years. The design, installation and ongoing operations will be carried out by Skanska.
In the next phase, contract negotiations will be concluded and financing for the project arranged. Following final approval of the contract by Surrey County Council, contract award and financial close is expected to be achieved by the end of the year. Following contract award and financial close, Skanska will make a further announcement stating its investment levels in the project together with details relating to the contract to be included in the company’s order bookings.
During the first five years of the scheme, the Skanska team, which has combined its experience in infrastructure services and utilities, will replace approximately 70,000 life expired street lights and refurbish and upgrade a further 18,000 lighting columns.
Existing orange/yellow lights will be replaced with modern white light sources to make town centres safer. In addition, full use of new energy-efficient equipment will be incorporated therefore reducing the carbon impact of delivering street lighting services.
During the 25-year scheme, which will start in January 2010, Skanska will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the assets, including provision of help desk services and emergency response.
Steve Sams, Executive Vice President of Skanska Infrastructure Development UK said: “We, together with our partners, are delighted to have been appointed Preferred Bidder by Surrey County Council for this scheme which will provide safer, energy efficient public lighting services for the people of Surrey. Skanska has many years experience in delivering street lighting in the UK and delivering these services under the PFI sector is an important part of the development of our UK portfolio.”
David Hardy, Director, John Laing Investments, said: “We, together with our partners, are delighted to have been appointed Preferred Bidder by Surrey County Council, the team is looking forward to working in this long-term partnership to improve street lighting across the County. Our aim is not only to create improved lighting but to deliver innovative solutions that will reduce energy costs and provide sustainable solutions in helping the County Council to reduce its carbon footprint.”
For further information please contact:
• For Skanska, Tanya Barnes, Skanska UK Head of Communications Tel. +44 1923 423 905
• For John Laing, Jo Young, Group Communications Manager at John Laing plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7901 3639 Or Charles Reynolds / Sarah Mylroie, Madano Partnership Tel: +44 (0) 20 7593 4000
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