Local Roads

Faber Maunsell has expanded its Traffic Engineering capability to provide a skill and experience resource capable of supporting Local Government clients across the range of their network operation responsibilities on local roads from planning and feasibility studies to asset management.

Faber Maunsell has worked closely with Local Government clients over many years and many of our key personnel have a local authority background. The company understands Local Government clients' needs and the issues associated with their local road functions and have a record of successfully delivering local policies and strategies. Over recent years a number of contractual arrangements with Local Government clients have developed into partnership working arrangements.

Planning

Faber Maunsell understands the issues of developing proposals that satisfy local authority's local road policy and strategy requirements and the processes required to gain political and local acceptance. The importance of the planning stage is key to delivering quality schemework and this stage must fully engage all partners and stakeholders. Faber Maunsell has the experience/resources to:

• Undertake policy/strategy development
• Prepare robust conceptual design and undertake feasibility studies
• Support stakeholder and partner engagement
• Prepare and undertake consultation programmes
• Support local authority's highway planning and development control responsibilities

Preliminary Design

Faber Maunsell has a wealth of resources and experience of taking local road proposals through the preliminary design stages and working with Local Government clients to obtain a robust, acceptable and justified design which can move forward into detailed design:

• Preparation of preliminary design drawings
• Scheme assessment and justification
• Impact and risk analysis
• Reporting and consultation
• Consideration of CDM risks and mitigation
• RTRA and HA requirements to deliver the schemes
• Identification of s.1/6 and s.9 requirements

Detailed Design

Taking schemes through the detailed design is a more mechanical process but it is vital that this stage of a scheme development is handled rigorously to prevent downstream delivery problems. The detailed design process needs to produce sound drawings that provide all the scheme "buildability" information required and identify risks and mitigate or report if not possible. A rigorous handling of relevant issues at the detailed design stage will reduce risks, problems and the consequent likelihood of cost escalation and programme overruns later on. Faber Maunsell can support Local Government clients with the detailed design of traffic and safety schemes, highway improvements, local roads, highway and structural maintenance, whole route bus priority projects, etc. Activities include:

• "Buildable" contract drawings
• Preparation of standard details
• Pre contract award H&S plans (CDM)
• Programming and phasing of schemes
• Cost/Engineers Estimates
• Utilities engagement
• Temporary (s.14 of RTRA 84) orders and notices
• Drafting of s.1/6 and s.9 TROs, associated documentation and supporting legislative procedures
• Recommendations for appropriate contracts for scheme delivery

Contract Document Preparation

The company is experienced in the production of all forms of contract likely to be used to deliver local authority's local road schemes, supporting the tendering process, evaluation and recommendations:

• ICE 5th Edition
• ICE Minor Works
• Engineering & Construction Contracts
• Term or Framework Contracts
• Partnership Contracts
• Customised contracts to suit client requirements

Site Supervision

Faber Maunsell has dedicated site supervisory resources at all levels who are experienced in delivering all types of local road schemes for Local Government clients, acting as Engineer/Project Manager to the contract or the Engineers representative/Supervisor. The resources are well versed with respect to temporary s.14 orders and notices requirements and the legal responsibilities relating to NRSWA and H&S. The resources are particularly experienced in:

• Live carriageway working
• Local resident/business requirements
• Temporary traffic management issues
• Health and safety
• Reporting back to Client and Local Members
• Contract management
• The preparation of final accounts

Asset Management

This is an area of work that is essential to providing a full service to Local Authorities. It requires staff to be close to the source of local road work. We have a large number of offices around the UK where we have staff to meet the mix of services sensitive to the local need. We also have extensive experience in relocating staff to provide a closer base potentially for staff employed within or close to the offices of the Client. In such cases appropriate experts in this work will still support staff to give a strength and depth expected of a major consultancy.

Faber Maunsell has the necessary experience and expertise to both work with Clients existing systems or to produce and advise on new systems to cover the whole range of Asset Management. Our breadth and depth of enables us to manage and control:

• NRSWA Co-ordination
• Highways Records
• Street Lighting records
• Sign records
• Traffic signal/UTC systems

and to advise on strategy and the implementation of:

• Maintenance of bridge and highway assets
• Emergency maintenance

Faber Maunsell also bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the roles of inspection and assessment of both bridges and highways. Faber Maunsell have managed and operated Area framework contracts specialising in Bridges and Structures for the Highways Agency in the West Midlands and also include the expertise in pavement measurement and assessment of MARCH pms. There is also experience available in the management and overseeing of term maintenance contracts such as grass cutting, surface dressing etc.

Faber Maunsell have also implemented within an authority one of the first web-enabled customer interfaces for reporting highway problems, which is automatically captured by the Clients corporate asset management system and assigned to the designated inspector. This creates a seamless service and adds the eyes of the public to the surveillance of their highway asset stock.

For more information on our experience and capabilities please contact Jonathan Oakes.