Road repair index will keep costs down

The Road Surface Treatments Association has welcomed the development of a new price indexation system for the highways maintenance industry in its bid to keep costs down.

Developed by the Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) and the Building Cost Information Services of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (BCIS) the price adjustment indices provides a monthly tracking of contract costs to enable lowest priced bids, fair allocation of risk between client and supplier and accurate cost profiling.

The new indices are a development and improvement of the long-standing Baxter Indices and provide a more accurate reflection of the cost variations incurred during the life of long-term highway maintenance contracts.

Cheshire West and Shropshire are the first local highway authorities to start using the new indices.

RSTA chairman Rob Gillespie said: “These new price adjustment indices provide a clearer and fairer mechanism to address price volatility over the duration of a highway maintenance contract.

"They will enable the tracking and accounting of inflation and facilitate forward planning for both client and supplier.”