The construction team building the bridge is made up of Kier, Samsung and FCC.
The council and Merseylink have said that they have jointly identified savings amounting to ‘tens of millions of pounds’ on the projected public-sector contribution to the US$3.1 billion project budget.
The Merseylink plans retain the three-tower design but have developed the construction methods. The design for the main bridge is now based on a reinforced concrete deck instead of the reference design’s steel. This is one of the areas that has produced significant financial savings.
Mersey Gateway project director Steve Nicholson said: “The outcome of procurement demonstrates the value in allowing private sector to modify the design in order to reduce costs. The quality of all the bids we received and the work put in by all the shortlisted bidders has been of a very high standard, and each one satisfied our challenging requirements. We now have a very attractive final offer from Merseylink, which means that we don’t need all the money we originally requested from government.”
Merseylink and the council team will now work on the final details of the plans before reaching financial close, signing a contract and starting site clearance and demolition later this year.
Once a formal financial close is reached, Merseylink will then become the project company and will work with the council to deliver a 30-year contract to design, build, finance and operate the new toll bridge over the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes, together with associated work in the towns.
The Merseylink consortium’s equity partners are Macquarie Capital Group, Bilfinger Project Investments Europe, and FCC Construcción. The construction joint venture is made up of Kier Infrastructure and Overseas, Samsung C&T Corporation and FCC Construcción.
