Skip to main content

UK’s Mersey Gateway Project team invites final tenders

The team behind what is set to be one of the UK’s largest infrastructure initiatives in the next few years has invited final tenders from the three shortlisted bidders competing to deliver it. The Mersey Gateway Project bidders have been asked to submit their tenders on behalf of Halton Borough Council by 10 April 2013, and an announcement about the identity of the preferred bidder is due in June 2013. This will allow the team behind the North West England-based project to sign a contract and begin construc
February 26, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
An artist’s impression of the new Mersey Gateway Bridge
The team behind what is set to be one of the UK’s largest infrastructure initiatives in the next few years has invited final tenders from the three shortlisted bidders competing to deliver it.

The 6126 Mersey Gateway Project bidders have been asked to submit their tenders on behalf of Halton Borough Council by 10 April 2013, and an announcement about the identity of the preferred bidder is due in June 2013. This will allow the team behind the North West England-based project to sign a contract and begin construction work by the end of the year.

The project team has also approved an addition to the Merseylink consortium, one of three bidding teams. Samsung C&T Corporation has joined the Merseylink consortium as part of the construction joint venture, partnering 1340 FCC Construcción S.A. and Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Limited. Halton Borough Council has formally reassessed the revised Merseylink consortium and approved the change. The Merseylink consortium equity partners remain unchanged.

The three bidders are competing for a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate a new toll bridge over the River Mersey between the Cheshire towns of Runcorn and Widnes, together with associated work in the towns. The final bids will be assessed against a set of detailed criteria that focuses on both quality and value for money.

This year Mersey Gateway was identified as one of the UK government’s Top 40 priority projects in the National Infrastructure Plan and it has been recognised by 4137 KPMG as one of the ‘Top 100 infrastructure projects around the globe’.

Its centrepiece is a new six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey. The existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will also be tolled as part of the project, which is expected to help create thousands of new jobs, secure inward investment to the area and deliver important regeneration benefits.

The value of the construction phase of the project, including land, is estimated at US$909.58 million (£600m). The total project costs/revenues over the next 30 years will be around $3.03 billion (£2bn). Further detail about the detailed schedule of works will be published after the appointment of the preferred bidder.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sunderland’s New Wear Crossing takes shape
    February 16, 2017
    The New Wear Crossing will be the first bridge to be built over the River Wear in Sunderland, UK, for more than 40 years Raising the bridge’s 100m-tall pylon promised to be a stunning visual sight, but also a tricky operation dictated by extremely variable local weather. World Highways went to press just before the operation, but not before the pylon had arrived by barge on January 7. It had completed a two-day crossing of the often unpredictable North Sea from the Belgian port of Ghent where it was f
  • More tenders for the Lower Thames Crossing
    April 2, 2021
    The winners will build 23km of road connecting to what will be the UK’s longest road tunnel.
  • Drainage for new Wear Crossing in UK
    January 21, 2016
    In the UK the Lanes Group is carrying out the contract to build specialist drainage for the New Wear Bridge in Sunderland. The Lanes Group will carry out this work for the joint venture partners building the new bridge link.
  • Kenya port suspension bridge project makes progress
    January 15, 2019
    A new suspension bridge in Kenya’s key port city, Mombasa, will help unlock potential – Shem Oirere reports Plans for the construction of a US$200 million suspension bridge in Kenya heva moved a notch higher. The country's urban roads agency recently announced the shortlisting of three bidders for the design, finance, construct, operate, maintain and transfer public private partnership (PPP) contract model. Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) is a state agency that manages, develops, rehabilitates and mai