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SPEAKER 1

Mike Kendrick
Partnership Project Manager - New Code of Practice on Highway Maintenance
E-mail: mike.kendrick@btinternet.com
Company's website: www.lga.gov.uk/lga/highway/index.htm

Mike Kendrick commenced his career in 1959 as an Engineering Learner with Wolverhampton County Borough Council, before moving to Dudley County Borough Council and subsequent appointments with Herefordshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire County Councils.

He was appointed County Surveyor of Northamptonshire in 1984 and Director of Planning and Transportation in 1987. Following his retirement from local government in 1998 he is continuing his professional career as a consultant in Planning and Transportation, and Local Government Management and is particularly involved with the development of innovation in delivering Transport Integration and Best Value.

He is the Project Manager for the Partnership Project 'Delivering Best Value in Highway Maintenance', jointly sponsored by Government, and Local Government to produce amongst other things a new Code of Good Practice for Highway Maintenance, which is to be officially launched on 10 July this year.

Mike is a past President of both the County Surveyors Society and the Institution of Highways and Transportation and presently Chairman of the Transportation Vocational Group. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 for services to Local Government and Road Safety.

PRESENTATION 1  
Towards Good Practice in Highway Maintenance

Throughout the UK there is a widespread recognition of the importance of highway maintenance and the high value placed on this both by users and the wider community. There is also an increasing understanding of the serious consequences of failure to invest adequately and effectively in maintaining the local highway network, in particular the progressive deterioration of safety, reliability, and quality, eventually requiring even greater levels of investment in the future.

There are however even wider consequences. The highway network is a key and highly visible community asset, supporting the national and local economy and contributing to the character, and environment of the areas that it serves. Within the new agenda of Integrated Transport, local road networks will continue to be the core of Local Transport Plans, although with changes in user priorities and regulation.

The potential contribution of the local road network extends far wider even than transport. It is fundamental to the economic, social and environmental well being of the community, and its management and maintenance should seek to maximise this wider contribution. Effective management of the local road network has the potential to aid regeneration, social inclusion, community safety, health and the environment, but this will need a planned long term programme of investment, efficiently managed and supported by effective technical and management systems.

The importance of the local road network in integrated transport and its wider community value has been recognised in developing transport policy both nationally and within the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England the Ten Year Plan for Transport sets specific targets for arresting the decline in the condition of local roads by 2004 and eliminating the backlog of outstanding maintenance work by 2010, backed by significant increases in funding.

This increased profile, both in policy and financial terms, for highway maintenance requires a corresponding increased emphasis on management and systems to support service delivery within the context and principles of Best Value. The Partnership Project was therefore established, involving officers of Central, Devolved and Local Government, together with the Audit Commission, to provide a framework of guidance, standards and performance management, incorporated within a new Code of Practice.

This Code of Practice, which supersedes the previous Code published in 1989, is founded on the key principle of Best Value, that services should be based upon the needs of users and the community rather than the convenience of service providers. It accepts that users prefer reasonable consistency, having little regard for administrative boundaries, and therefore seeks to encourage harmonisation of approach so far as practicable, both between strategic and local roads and between adjoining authorities. This Code applies throughout the UK, whilst recognising the need for reasonable local discretion and diversity, and essential Regional differences

This Code also recognises the diversity in funding arrangements applying in different parts of the UK, and also the likelihood of changes in the capital funding regime for Government support to local authorities. These are expected, in due course, to remove much of the present ring-fencing for transport expenditure, replacing this with a 'Single Capital Pot' approach, providing greater local flexibility in the use of resources. In these circumstances it will be even more important to be able to demonstrate effective arrangements for the management of the highway network asset, consistent with those established for other potentially competing services.

It is important that the results of ongoing research and development are reflected in the Code and arrangements have been put in place to ensure its continued currency. These arrangements are to be overseen by a newly established Roads Liaison Group, involving representatives of Central, Devolved and Local Government, as part of its much wider co-ordinating role.

The highway network is a most highly valued physical asset, both in financial and community terms, for which public authorities are responsible, and delivering Best Value maintenance is crucially important both to users and the community. The principles of the Code, which is to be launched in 10 July are to be recommended for adoption by authorities who may adapt them as necessary based on consideration of local circumstances, but should then apply them consistently.

This paper will highlight key principles and recommendations from the new Code and review the process by which they have been developed.
 

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SPEAKER 2

Ed Lawrence
Technical Director - Babtie Group
Member of the Executive Group National Road Maintenance Condition Survey
Chairman UKPMS Technical Steering Group
E-mail: ed.lawrence@babtie.com
Company's website: www.babtie.com

Ed Lawrence is a Technical Director with the Babtie Group. Ed has overall responsibility for Babtie Pavement Management Services. Ed has been involved in Transportation services for 26 years of which 17 years has been specialising in Pavement Engineering and Asset Management Systems.

Ed is a member of the NRMCS Executive Group and Chairman of the UKPMS Owners Forum Technical Steering Group. He is a member of the CSS data collection working party and the Highway Maintenance Policy Group.

PRESENTATION 2  
The Future of National Road Condition Monitoring

The NRMCS Executive Group assessed the impact of the introduction of UKPMS and the development by the Highway Agency of High Speed Surveys (TRACS). As a result the Executive Group proposes fundamental changes in the National Road Maintenance Condition Survey.

The aims of the new NRMCS are:
1. To provide an objective measure of road condition at the national level and by type of road.
2. To provide sufficient detail to permit comparisons of condition at local authority and regional level.
3. To permit meaningful comparisons to be made with other European countries.
4. To allow the calculation of outstanding maintenance work at national and regional level based on minimum whole life cost.
5. To not require authorities to carry out specific surveys for the NRMCS, but to use data collected for UKPMS.
6. To collect data that will represent the whole network rather than sample sections, thereby allowing comparisons at local level.
7. To provide an audit role by undertaking independent survey work to ensure the UKPMS is providing consistent results.

The achievement of these aims has been made possible by the new Management Framework consisting of the Roads Liaison Group, and the Technical Groups of NRMCS, UKPMS Owners Forum and the Best Value Consortium. These groups together with technical support given by compliant UKPMS systems, standard CVI/DVI surveys carried out by City and Guild accredited surveyors and Rules and Parameters giving control mechanism for analysis, will give a structured environment for consistency and for introducing continuous improvements.
 

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SPEAKER 3

Sally Vivian
Principal Environmental Scientist - URS Dames and Moore
E-mail: Sally_Vivian@urscorp.com
Company's website: www.urscorp.com

Sally Vivian has recently rejoined URS Dames & Moore as a Principal Environmental Scientist within Corporate Sustainable Solutions based in Cardiff. Previously, Sally was a Manager with Environ and a senior member of the Dames & Moore UK Environmental Management Group. She has a chemistry and environmental resources degree from the University of York. Sally has over ten years experience in environmental consultancy with her main experience and expertise lying in the fields of corporate environmental auditing, environmental reporting, environmental management systems, training and due diligence. With her broad consulting background, Sally has a wide range of industry sector experience including manufacturing and utilities. On recent projects she has worked with Rexam plc, Blue Circle and National Grid.

PRESENTATION 3   
Opportunities from Environmental Management

The objectives of this paper are to discuss the environmental and sustainability issues confronting the construction industry in general and transport engineers in particular. The paper goes on to suggest that meeting these new challenges will provide significant opportunities for policy makers, private companies and local communities.
 

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SPEAKER 4

Peter Forsyth
Technical Services Director - Carillion Infrastructure
E-mail: pforsyth@carillionplc.com
Company's website: www.carillionplc.com

Since graduating in Civil Engineering from Leeds University in 1984, Peter Forsyth has had a wide and varied career from research into offshore structures, through international project development to multidiscipline project management.

Peter is now the Technical Services Director for Carillion Infrastructure who can be counted amongst the market leaders in rail and road maintenance. Responsible for securing all new work and technical support to existing contracts the role is wide ranging and covers a variety of disciplines including supply chain management.

PRESENTATION 4   
Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management is a simple concept but as a term subject to some abuse and much misunderstanding. This paper seeks to clarify what Supply Chain Management is and looks at how it can be used in the Highway Maintenance sector. Introducing the concept of Category Management and how, if used appropriately there are benefits for the client, contractor and subcontractors.

The paper is based upon a real life example and explains how the supply chain was identified and developed by the Carillon-USR joint venture for the Highways Area 8 MAC. Particular attention is drawn to the differences between the various categories of supplier and why strategic suppliers are important.
 

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SPEAKER 5

Ian Drummond
Lead Best Value Inspector - Audit Commission
E-mail: i-drummond@audit-commission.gov.uk
Company's website: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/

Ian is the lead inspector for the counties and districts of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, the Berkshire unitary councils, Surrey County Council and 5 of its districts. Until April 1998, Ian was head of traffic and safety with Northamptonshire County Council, having previously worked in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. He was the seconded by Northamptonshire to lead their best value pilot in highways and transportation. In April 1999 Ian joined the Audit Commission, again on secondment, to form part of the team that to develop the best value methodology. The culminated in the publication of ‘Seeing is Believing’. In July 2001, Ian is joining the road safety division of DTLR, after 3 varied years of best value work.

PRESENTATION 5  
The User's View of Highway Management

Ian answers the question 'Why do we maintain the roads?'. To do this, he explores the reasons for good service delivery; what the users want; and how they measure how sucessful our industry is at delivering a road network that is fit for purpose.
 

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SPEAKER 6

Steve Rowsell
Director of Procurement - Highways Agency
E-mail: steve.rowsell@highways.gsi.gov.uk
Company's website: www.highways.gov.uk

Steve Rowsell was appointed as the new Procurement Director for the Highways Agency in October 2000 and in his new role he is a member of the HA Management Board.

He is a chartered Civil Engineer and has worked for the Department of Transport, latterly the Highways Agency, for 26 years. For most of his career he has worked in the development and delivery of major highways projects including the A34 Newbury Bypass, the Second Severn Crossing project, the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, M25 Widening and M60 Manchester Orbital Motorway.

Before taking up his new Procurement post he was already closely involved in the implementation of new procurement practices based on the partnering approach. He was also in the lead for the Agency in the development of new processes to speed up the delivery of major road projects as part of the 10 Year Plan proposals.

PRESENTATION 6  
Current Developments in Contract Procurement

The talk will cover the targets in the 10 Year Plan and the steps the HA are taking to deliver them. In particular it will look at ways of speeding up the delivery of major projects including earlier public consultation, parallel work activities and improved procurement.

There will also be a wider look at the Agency’s new procurement strategy including the new Managing Agent Contractor (MAC) contracts and the move to longer term relationships to deliver improved planning and better value. Developments which will be discussed, will include the use of quality assessment to select suppliers, the use of framework contracts, the development of early design and build contracts for major projects and the role of private finance.
 

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SPEAKER 7

Peter Andrews
Managing Director - Jackson Civil Engineering
E-mail: j.m.andrews@btinternet.com
Company's website: www.jackson-civils.co.uk

A native East Anglian, born and educated in Peterborough he graduated in civil engineering from The University of Salford in 1967.

Major contracting experience was gained on a wide variety of projects ranging from sizeable bridge works, road construction, water treatment plants and large scale pipelines initially with Mitchell Construction followed by several years with Lehane McKenzie & Shand.

Design experience followed in the bridge department of Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners with involvement on the M4, then under construction, before returning to national contracting with A. Monk & Co.

1976 saw Peter join the Ipswich based Jackson Group where for the last 17 years he was Director and Managing Director of Jackson Civil Engineering Ltd, the £70M turnover broad based civil engineering and rail contractor operating throughout Eastern and South Eastern England.

A former Chairman within the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors Peter was the founding National Chairman of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, the body which in replacing the Federation represents the interests of all Civil Engineering Contractors nationwide.

Peter was elected Chairman of the Construction Confederation in June 2000

PRESENTATION 7  
The Jolly Green Giant

The Jolly Green Giant to some may be a tin of sweet corn but to me I see it as our industry.

Let’s admit it, our industry is a big one, a giant of a one, employing a vast amount of people with varying skills. We are faced with many challenges, which being an optimistic soul I consider are being dealt with positively and efficiently. We also have a resource problem so we need to make best use of these resources and at the same time encourage more young people into the industry.

We have been our own worst enemy. What we have not done is to shout from the rooftops about our achievements of which there have been many. Sustainability and innovation are at the heart of our profession with many green initiatives having been developed during the construction of schemes to the benefit of society. The industry itself has not been slow to promote its own initiatives like “Rethinking Construction”. These issues do provide a focus.

However, no industry can survive unless it makes a profit. We need the profit to go forward and innovate and achieve continuous improvement. If a profit is made then we are all jolly. To be jolly, an organisation must be productive and profitable.

The paper will give my personal views on successful contracting together with achieving a profitable business.
 

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