BRITISH infrastructure manager Network Rail (NR) has selected four contractors to join its new Southern Integrated Delivery (SID) alliance, which will undertake renewals work worth a total of up to £9bn on NR’s Southern Region over the next 10 years.
NR has appointed VolkerFitzpatrick to undertake buildings and civil engineering work, with Octavius responsible for electrification and plant. VolkerRail will undertake track renewals and Atkins has been appointed to undertake the signalling component of the renewals programme.
Work will take place in NR’s next five-year regulatory funding period, Control Period 7 (CP7), running from 2024 to 2029, and in CP8 from 2029 to 2034.
NR says that its exact renewals budget for CP7 has yet to be determined, as it works to agree a final funding settlement with economic and safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
The SID alliance forms part of a new enterprise model that is being rolled out after development work that has included “significant cross-industry consultation” over the last two-and-a-half years, according to NR.
The enterprise model is based on the Project 13 principles developed by Britain’s Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
ICE says that the transactional model for delivering major infrastructure projects and programmes is “broken.” It prevents efficient delivery, prohibits innovation “and therefore fails to provide the high-performing infrastructure networks that businesses and the public require.”
An enterprise approach brings together owners, partners, advisers and suppliers, working in more integrated and collaborative arrangements, underpinned by long-term relationships. Participating organisations are also incentivised to deliver better outcomes.
The SID is intended to make “a transformational change” in how renewals work is delivered by merging NR’s capabilities with those of its supply chain to develop an integrated and coordinated approach to delivery.
By linking efficiency savings made by the alliance partners to increase the workbank, and basing profit on extra work delivered, NR says that the SID will make the best use of resources, maximise efficiencies “and be collectively incentivised to deliver value for taxpayers and the right outcomes for passengers, freight and railway funders.”
“This transformational step will bring all those ingredients together for the long-term delivery of renewals and make a tangible difference to passengers and freight-users alike,” says Ms Ellie Burrows, managing director of NR's Southern Region."
“We look forward to spending the next 13 months working alongside Network Rail, VolkerFitzpatrick, Atkins and Octavius, as we develop the industry’s first enterprise delivery model,” says Mr Steve Cocliff, managing director of VolkerRail.
