Volker begins street light upgrade in three counties

VolkerHighways has started work on a contract worth £24 million that will see it upgrade 38,000 street lights with energy efficient LED lamps in Slough, Wokingham and Reading.

The contract started on 1 April 2016 and will continue for two years. It is estimated that the work will reduce CO2 emissions by 58,000 tonnes.

The VolkerHighways team will undertake 11,000 column replacements and electrical connection transfers, across the three towns. They will also install Central Management Systems, allowing the councils to directly monitor their lights for maintenance issues, as well as dim or turn them off, as required.

Slough Borough Council has also included a street lighting term maintenance contract, which will run for the initial two years, extendable by one year.

On completion of the two-year contract, the project is anticipated to result in a combined saving of £1.9m in maintenance costs and £1.4m in energy costs, across the three authorities.

Alistair Thompson, managing director of VolkerHighways, said: “We are delighted to have won this combined contract and to be working with the Slough, Wokingham and Reading Borough Councils, in the delivery of their LED conversion programme. This is a further contract for our expanding lighting business in the UK LED conversion sector and is testament to the confidence our clients have in VolkerHighways. We also look forward to forging a long-standing relationship with Slough Borough Council during the maintenance contract.”