Exclusive: Kent outlines £400m horizon on GW Highways deal

Kent County Council has awarded a highways deal worth up to £400m through its new road asset renewal contract to West Malling-based contractor GW Highways.

The deal will run for an initial five years with the option of an extension to double the length of the agreement, which the council valued at £20-25m per annum in a recent report but this is expected to increase.

A council spokesperson told Highways: ‘The figure quoted in the Cabinet Committee report was to give councillors an idea of the scale of the procurement. There is no guarantee of spend under this contract, but we would reasonably expect spend to be of that order.

‘However, we have set an upper limit of £400m over the ten years to allow for any future increases in government or KCC funding, any future inflation, and any other unexpected but in-scope spend.’

The works will include cold milling of the top layers of the road structure, repaving with surfacing including asphalt surface and binder course plus adjustments to covers and replacement of road markings and road studs.