Highway Planning and Engineering

Faber Maunsell provides a comprehensive service in all aspects of Highway Planning and Engineering, from feasibility studies through to construction.

Highway Planning and Engineering forms an integral part of Faber Maunsell's business. We undertake work at all stages of highway projects, from consideration of alternative routes through design development, draft Orders & Environmental Statement publication and Public Inquiry stages, to detailed design and construction supervision.

In undertaking this work, Faber Maunsell has pro-actively embraced recent developments in procurement, such as Early Contractor Involvement and the development of long-term Supply Chain relationships with both clients and sub-consultants.

Approach

Faber Maunsell is committed to working closely with other members of integrated teams charged with the delivery of highway projects. Our approach to design, which embraces a continuous value engineering culture, leads to innovative solutions in highway layout and methods of construction.

In developing highway designs, Faber Maunsell advocates an open and inclusive approach, consulting widely to obtain opinions and data from all project stakeholders. Such an approach has frequently proved invaluable in delivering the optimum scheme to our clients.

Our Highways Project Managers have extensive experience in managing the consultancy input to highway projects, overseeing and co-ordinating the input from the highways, transportation planning, structures, geotechnical and environmental disciplines. We thus provide a single, authoritative point of contact with the client for each highway project.

Faber Maunsell's Highways staff have considerable expertise in undertaking the design of highway alignment/geometry, surface and foul water drainage, road pavement, traffic signs and road markings. Equally as important, Faber Maunsell's senior staff have many years' experience in successfully progressing major projects through the Statutory Process, preparing draft Order Plans and Schedules as well as preparing and presenting evidence at Public Inquiries, acting as Expert Witnesses in a range of key disciplines.

Faber Maunsell considers the environmental aspects of highway design to be critical to the success of a project and we have a long history of incorporating the results of environmental assessments into our designs. A key aspect of this work is the early addressing of environmental issues as an integral part of the design process - mitigation then becomes incorporated into the design, rather than an add-on to the design process, thereby minimising any adverse effects on the environment and providing enhancements in many cases.

Together with our colleagues in the Transport Planning, Bridges and Ground Technology Business Streams, Faber Maunsell provides a "one stop shop" engineering consultancy service for major highway projects.

Design Standards

The level of Faber Maunsell's technical expertise is illustrated by our commission from the Irish National Roads Authority (NRA) to prepare the current NRA Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB), by modifying the UK DMRB to reflect Irish practice and procedures.

For the majority of Standards, we prepared Addenda which set out the changes to the UK DMRB which apply in Ireland to achieve compatibility with Irish legislation, specifications, etc. However, where the changes were extensive, replacement NRA Design Standards were produced. The documents are being updated regularly to reflect ongoing developments in Ireland and revisions to the UK DMRB. In particular, a new Design Standard for safety barriers has been published to implement the new European Standard EN 1317.

Procurement Types and Experience

Faber Maunsell has considerable expertise in many forms of procurement, including traditional Engineer Design, Design & Build, DBFO and Early Contractor Involvement. We also have extensive experience in the roles of Contractor's Designer, Employer's Agent and Due Diligence Auditor, on Design & Build and DBFO projects.

For more information on our experience and capabilities please contact Mike Llywelyn-Jones.