Highways England awards Jacobs the Lower Thames Crossing Integration Partner contract

Today (Wednesday 03 February) it was announced that Jacobs has been awarded the Integration Partner contract for the Lower Thames Crossing. Highways England is building a team to deliver the most ambitious road project in a generation and we are delighted to welcome Jacobs onboard as our new Integration Partner.

If given the green light, the Lower Thames Crossing will improve journeys by almost doubling road capacity across the Thames east of London, with 14.3 miles of new road featuring two 2.6-mile-long tunnels. The crossing will help to unlock a wealth of economic benefits by supporting over 22,000 jobs during construction and creating better connections to the region’s ports, distribution hubs and manufacturing centres.

The Integration Partner will bring a diverse range of capabilities, including programme management, stakeholder management and risk management.

Jacobs and its partners will begin to prepare the scheme to move into the delivery phase, subject to planning consent, so that main works contractors will be in a good position to be quickly mobilised. They will also support the successful delivery of the construction, integrated system commissioning and handover to operations helping to ensure the project leaves a great legacy.

The award of the Integration Partner contract follows the £2bn Tunnels and Approaches package – Highways England's largest ever contract – tender launch in November 2020. 

Matt Palmer, Lower Thames Crossing Executive Director said: “The construction of the crossing will generate 22,000 jobs, and will connect the midlands to the Channel ports providing a boost to the UK economy as part of post Covid19 recovery. This contract award is the first step in that journey.

“Jacobs will be joining us as a partner, bringing world-wide best practice in large infrastructure programmes to supplement Highways England’s outstanding record in successful project delivery. Together our intention is to create a collaborative team with our three main contractors to deliver an exceptional project that the country can be proud of.”

Jacobs People & Places Solutions Senior Vice President Europe and Digital Strategies Donald Morrison said: “We are united around the Lower Thames Crossing’s vision to improve transport connections and boost regional economic growth opportunities, and look forward to driving strategic collaboration with Highways England and their key partners on this critical component in the U.K.’s future transport infrastructure.”

“Our collective knowledge and capability in successfully integrating major transportation solutions, coupled with our long partnership of working with Highways England position us to manage this uniquely challenging programme of work, achieving best value against the outcomes.”

The project is at the stage where it will resubmit the its application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to the Planning Inspectorate. This follows many years of design development and a record-breaking programme of consultation during which we received over 90,000 responses.

Read the full press release.

For further information contact us at info@lowerthamescrossing.co.uk or by calling 0300 123 5000. You can also get the latest updates on Facebook and Twitter.