Balfour Beatty awarded major contract for M20 lorry area

International infrastructure group, Balfour Beatty, has been awarded a contract by Highways England, valued up at £130M.

The contract covers the development of the proposals during the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase of the project, and the construction of a proposed lorry area subject to a decision to proceed from the Government.

It is part of the overall £250M lorry area, which was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Autumn 2015.

The M20 lorry area will provide much needed relief to Kent’s road network, while supporting local economic growth and development. It will accommodate approximately 3,600 lorries at capacity, when services across the English Channel are disrupted and lorries are unable to travel across the continent.

Lorries had to queue on parts of the M20 in emergency Operation Stack, when unable to cross the continent. The lorry area will provide a much needed, long term solution that will support the number of heavy good vehicles crossing from Kent, which is forecasted to double by the mid-2020s.

At the peak of construction, 150 construction workers could be employed.

With the early award of the contract, potential delays to the start of work will be minimised once the location is finalised and a decision to proceed is made, and so the project is expected to be partially open by the summer of 2017.

The ECI phase, in which Balfour Beatty is an experienced partner, allows for optimal integration between teams, enhanced innovation, improved efficiencies and reduced costs.

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