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A66 team confident about planning approval

New approach expected to smooth path to gaining DCO
By Rob Hakimian

National Highways said in July that working with contractors Kier, Balfour Beatty and Keltbray, under “Project Speed principles” has strengthened its A66 North Trans- Pennine upgrade development consent order (DCO) application.

It is reported that the government’s Project Speed group within the Department for Transport (DfT) was disbanded in spring this year. But National Highways is confident that the group’s influence will help the £1.3bn upgrade of 29km of the A66 gain planning consent later this year.

Launched in June 2020, the DfT’s Project Speed unit brought together transport experts, ministers, businesses, local government and other specialists to come up with fresh ideas for project delivery.

The A66 is a key east-west freight route between the M6 and the A1

The Planning Inspectorate accepted the project’s DCO application for examination earlier this summer. It is expected to make its recommendation on whether the project should go ahead to transport secretary Mark Harper by 29 August. It is anticipated that he will decide whether to grant the DCO by 29 November.

The A66 upgrade is designed by an Amey-Arup integrated team. It will convert to dual carriageway 29km of single lane sections of the 80km route between the M6 and A1. In addition, key junctions will also be improved.

The A66 is a vital east-west route in the North, with a quarter of its traffic being freight – more than double the national average. It is also a dangerous road, with a high rate of serious accidents, including seven fatalities in the last four years.

For these reasons, the upgrade is classed as a nationally significant infrastructure project and it was selected as a pathfinding project for the government’s Project Speed programme. Project Speed’s involvement has resulted in a halving of the construction programme from 10 years to a new goal of five years.

If the DCO is granted, National Highways and its partners are prepared to start the main construction phase in spring 2024 with a view for completion in 2029.

To achieve the five-year construction timeframe, the Project Speed ethos has had to be embedded in the project from the very earliest stages, according to National Highways A66 Northern TransPennine project director Lee Hillyard.

He says it has required a “shift in behaviours and an appetite to do things more quickly” from everyone, from the Treasury and DfT to those involved directly on the project and even the people who clean the offices after late-night meetings.

“The driving factor to doing this in five years, and moving through the DCO process with a more accelerated appetite, is saving lives. The quicker the project is done, the more lives are saved,” Hillyard said. “That’s what it comes back to for everyone; we are really doing this to make an impact and we will be able to see that impact in six years’ time, once we start getting this dualled and making it safer, more resilient and more reliable.”

Accelerating the scheme has also meant compiling an extra-large DCO application.

“You can break down the scheme into individual components; it’s a 50-mile [80km] long scheme with eight schemes at separate geographic intervals across it,” Hillyard explained. “You can’t achieve the benefits of the scheme by doing individual components. It only really stacks up in government terms by doing it as one.”

Tier 1 contractors Kier, Balfour Beatty, Keltbray and Costain were brought onto the project by Hillyard “from day one” through National Highways’ Regional Delivery Partners (RDP) framework.

Although Costain quit the programme in June the remaining partners are working together.

Involving the contractors early enabled the contractors to inform and assist the DCO application from it initial stages. They provided early construction advice and cost estimates and also became involved with the stakeholders early on.

“The delivery partners are working together on their procurement and category management strategy,” said Hillyard. “We have to work together through interfaces to reduce our carbon first and foremost.”

Despite the wait for the DCO, work on the project is still ongoing. “We are well and truly ahead of the ground investigations for all the schemes,” said Hillyard. National Highways is also progressing with purchasing the land it needs.

While Project Speed has been disbanded, Hillyard believes that initiatives like it could be used on other major infrastructure schemes but he warns that the Project Speed ethos has to be the mindset from the very outset of the process. “Making changes during your design and DCO process is when you lose the time and benefit of Project Speed,” he said. “It’s great, but it’s got to go at the front end of the design.”