Crossrail awards final major contract of project

The last major contract of the Crossrail project has been announced indicating the end of one of the of the UK’s largest procurement programmes.

Crossrail has announced the final major agreement of the project in a procurement process which has awarded more than 100 contracts covering tunnelling, station construction and railway systems.

The last contract for a maintenance facility at Plumstead has been awarded to a Joint Venture comprising of Alstom Transport (UK) Limited, TSO S.A.S and Costain Limited in an agreement worth approximately £26 million. Shortlisted companies included VINCI Construction UK Limited, Balfour Beatty Group Limited and VolkerFitzpatrick Limited.

The new facility will house the staff and equipment required for the maintenance and upkeep of the tracks and other infrastructure in the tunnels below London. The maintenance facility is due to be fully operational in August 2018.

Final Crossrail contract worth £26m

Throughout the procurement process Crossrail has encouraged firms of all sizes and from all regions of the UK to bid for work through events held around the country. As a result, 62 percent of companies in the project’s supply chain are based outside London and 63% are SMEs.

Simon Wright, Programme Director at Crossrail said: “The procurement of billions of pounds worth of work for the Crossrail programme has been a monumental exercise.

“We have used the procurement process as a way of ensuring world class standards in the construction of the new railway as well as value for money for the taxpayer. The contracts we’ve signed with our principle contractors have also set the future standard for major UK infrastructure projects, helping us to deliver more than 550 apprenticeships, reducing our impact on the environment and spreading the economic benefits of the project.”