FM Conway has secured its first ever contract with a county council after bagging a £56 million deal to deliver highways surfacing work for East Sussex County Council.The contract is a seven-year agreement worth £8m per annum, which commenced on 1 May 2016. FM Conway will operate as a sub-contractor to the Costain/CH2M joint venture, which was confirmed as the main contractor for East Sussex’s highways services contract earlier this year.It is the first time that FM Conway will be working on a county council contract, with the majority of the company’s existing surfacing contracts being with the London boroughs. The contract will see FM Conway delivering resurfacing, maintenance and machine patching projects, working closely with the Costain/CH2M JV. The business has also secured a one-year contract to provide gully cleansing across the county.Mike Betchley, operations director at FM Conway, said: “This is a milestone success for FM Conway, progressing our expansion into new regions with new clients, outside of our core London market. It continues a period of remarkable growth, which has seen us significantly increase both profit and turnover year-on-year over the past decade.“We have always held the belief that our self-delivery model has the potential to bring huge benefits to local authorities outside of London as well as in the capital – the fact that this was one of the decisive factors in securing us this flagship county council contract has proved us correct. This will be the first of many exciting opportunities for FM Conway across the South East and beyond.”Dave Bailey, service director at East Sussex Highways, added: “We had extremely positive engagement with FM Conway throughout the procurement process. Their flexibility, willingness to invest in the area and commitment to innovation and self-delivery will deliver long-lasting benefits to the county council over the coming years, making them the logical choice for this contract.”FM Conway is already looking at a number of innovations that will be introduced across the East Sussex contract to improve delivery and efficiency for the county council. A trial is currently underway to use a non-invasive Rhinopatch technique for highways maintenance works which could deliver significant improvements in materials usage and speed of delivery.