Go Live! Suffolk County Council Street Lighting Services Contract Gets Underway
The mobilisation of the new street lighting services contract for Suffolk County Council is now complete, with the project set to deliver ongoing asset maintenance and enhancement to the benefit of local communities over a seven-year period.
The contract was successfully secured by our team in June of this year after already demonstrating our credentials through works across North and North East Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire Council, Durham County Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and the London Borough of Hillingdon.
Suffolk County Council invited tenders for its street lighting services contract in September 2022, with the proposed contract spanning seven years and commencing from October 1st 2023. There is also an option to extend the contract for an additional three years, resulting in an estimated overall project value of £35 million over ten years.
Under the comprehensive contract framework, McCann assumes responsibility for critical tasks including emergency attendances, fault repairs, asset cleaning, electrical testing, visual inspections, lamp changes, and the repair and replacement of assets as required. Our expertise also extends to private cable fault diagnosis and repair.
An extensive 3-month mobilisation phase has been underway on the scheme, with working groups created across the McCann and Suffolk teams to cover all commercial, customer journey, depot, vehicle, plant and resourcing aspects of the contract, ensuring that all elements were in-place for Day One of the contract. This process included our Managing Director, John McCann, meeting Paul West, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for Ipswich, operational highways and flooding.
Speaking about the mobilisation phase and commencement of the contract, which officially launched on the 1st October, our Highways Director, Clive Leadbetter, said, “Mobilising a scheme of this size takes a lot of planning and together with the team at Suffolk County Council, we’re now in in the process of putting the seven year forward project timeline in motion,”
Clive continues, “Within McCann, we have significantly added to our capabilities through key recruitments for the contract including General Manager, Area Manager, HSEQ Advisor, Contract Administrator and Supervisor, to name a few roles. As part of the TUPE Transfer process, we have also taken on 16 employees from the incumbent contractor,”
“We’re also setting up three new depot locations to service Suffolk and the surrounding areas, with operations hubs in Melton, Lowestoft and Depden, while adding a suite of new branded vehicles which will be on the roads from 1st October 2023.”
‘’We are proud to be part of such a prestigious street lighting contract and look forward to developing our relationships with Suffolk council aswell as the neighbouring councils and parishes across the next 7 years.’’
Suffolk County Council’s extensive street lighting network encompasses 62,000 road lighting assets, including 55,000 columns, 9,000 signs and bollards, and 3,500 associated assets. The council is also entrusted with maintaining 10,500 assets within parishes in Suffolk and 1,200 assets within parishes in Norfolk.
Councillor, Paul West, said:
“I am delighted to welcome our new streetlighting partner McCann, to Suffolk. There has been a great deal of work taking place over the past few months to ensure we were ready to start the new partnership on 1 October whilst continuing to deliver services to our residents.
“As streetlighting services tend to affect all those living, working or travelling in our county; it was essential we found the best possible fit for what was needed here in Suffolk.
“Since choosing McCann as our new delivery partner and getting to know their business and how they operate on other similar partnerships across the country, I am confident they will provide excellent services and value for our residents.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in successfully procuring, awarding and mobilising this new contract, whilst continuing to keep our county safe and moving.”
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