Road builders urged to skill-up for £24bn bonanza

Aaron Morby 10 years ago
Share

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill today called on road builders to prepare for a surge in work ahead of the biggest investment in the road network since the 1970s.

The government is tripling funding on the road network over the next eight years with more than £24bn to be spent on upgrading and improving the network until 2021.

This locked-in funding commitment will sustain an estimated 30,000 new construction jobs.

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill said that the time had come for contractors to take on more apprentices and for suppliers to ensure they have the capacity to deal with raised demand.

By the end of the next parliament, the government will be spending £3bn each year on improvements and maintenance for the strategic network alone.

investing-in-britains-future
Investment in yearly amounts including spending rounds of October 2010, November 2011, December 2012, June 2013 and pre-October 2010. Click graphic to enlarge

 

Goodwill said: “Funding certainty is critical to the construction industry in planning for the future and that is exactly what the government has delivered.

“However, we need to make sure everyone is ready to deliver the massive programme of investment that we need to keep Britain’s roads moving.

“To do that, we need to make sure we have the right people and equipment in place to deliver the 53 road schemes in preparation right now, plus the next generation of improvements over the next 7 years.

“Along with investing £10.7bn in major improvements for our strategic roads from 2015 to 2020/21, the government is also investing £6.1bn in resurfacing 80% of the strategic network, with another £6bn being spent on tackling potholes on local authority roads.

“The funding announced in the 2013 Spending Review along with the Department for Transport’s ‘Action for Roads’ – a command paper that sets out the long-term vision for the road network from 2015 – will provide contractors with the security to make commercial decisions based on long-term funding.”

For the latest construction vacancies click here

Latest news

Police ban mobile cranes from roads over Easter

Plant hire bosses livid as forces across the country extend abnormal load embargoes
17 hours ago

Director jailed for exposing workers to asbestos

Ten tonnes of asbestos insulating board stripped out by unqualified workers
21 hours ago

Site labour rates start rising again

Industry's biggest payroll firm says "it feels like things could be turning round"
1 day ago

Council finds extra £33m for Buckinghamshire link road

South East Aylesbury Link Road costs soar by nearly 30% to £147m
1 day ago

Quartet win £490m North West & Central railway works deal

Skanska, Kier, Octavius Infrastructure and Story Contracting bag major projects deal
1 day ago

Unite Students plans first major mixed-use scheme

Developer's first mixed BTR and PBSA project to be built in Edinburgh
2 days ago

Galliford Try names new finance director

Rentokil's Kris Hampson joins contractor to replace Andrew Duxbury
1 day ago

Council boss hits out at bat threat to £274m road job

Natural England could scupper scheme due to be built by Ferrovial
1 day ago

Hydrogen-fuelled diggers to be allowed onto highways

Government to raise barrier to widespread use of hydrogen fuelled plant in construction
2 days ago

Plans in for £118m Government hub in Darlington

Work pencilled to start later this year on new home for 1,450 civil servants
2 days ago

New contractor highlights Henry Construction jobs on website

New firm lists jobs by failed contractor to show its experience
2 days ago

Contractors line up for £2.6bn Anglian Water AMP8 deal

Eight big names land places on pioneering @one Alliance
3 days ago

McAleer & Rushe bags first major later living project

Work to start this month on 167-flat Royal Tunbridge Wells project
2 days ago

Kier starts first all-electric prison houseblock job in Kent

Next-generation fully electric T60 prison houseblock to be built at HMP Elmley
2 days ago

Keepmoat sees better times ahead in housing market

Profits dip in 2023 despite construction of record number of new homes
2 days ago

Vistry signs partnership deals for 1,900 mixed tenure homes

West Sussex former airfield and Newmarket sites to break ground
3 days ago

Turnover at Wates tops £2bn for first time

Construction division exceeds £1bn turnover as average contract value hits record high of £48.3m
3 days ago

L&G looks to sell Cala Homes in exit from house building

Insurance giant reported to be preparing to offload 3,000 homes-a-year developer
4 days ago

Multiplex profit almost trebles as margin hits 5.5%

Revenue jumps 20% to £675m as big London scheme complete
3 days ago

TopHat puts plans to open huge Corby factory on hold

Advanced manufacturing facility was due to employ 1,000 people
3 days ago

Laing O’Rourke lands Calderdale hospital job

Enabling works to start by the end of this year at West Yorkshire site
3 days ago

Go-ahead for £475m Sunderland film and TV studios

Work to start this year on first phase Corwn Work studios
3 days ago

Willmott Dixon set for £20m Stockport Community Hub

Planning decision expected in June on Marple leisure and health clinic project
3 days ago

Police hunt for blundering dumper truck thief

Raider drove into a fence before getting stuck on a bank
3 days ago

Beattie Passive files administration notice

Passivhaus pioneer has been in business for more than ten years
4 days ago

McAlpine set for £50m space and tech centre

Northumbria Uni sign pre-con deal for new satellite research hub
4 days ago

VolkerFitzpatrick seals £34m Kent road viaduct

Work to start next year on Sturry Link Road near Canterbury
4 days ago

Eight win £600m Scottish civil engineering framework

Balfour, Farrans, Graham and Morgan Sindall win major works lot
4 days ago

Site engineer crushed to death by excavator

22-year-old victim died just months after graduating from university
6 days ago

NG Bailey fined £135,000 after hospital site death

Worker died after striking overhead beam while navigating a mobile elevating work platform
6 days ago

Contractor services