Bridge going up costs going down
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that the overall cost for Scotland’s flagship project will be £50 million lower than the previous budget estimate made in 2013.
The new budget range for the Forth Replacement Crossing scheme, to build the Queensferry Crossing and connecting road network, is down from £1.4 billion to £1.45 billion to a new budget range of £1.35 billion to £1.4 billion.
The further reductions in the FRC budget are the result of the continued delivery of key construction milestones, successful management of the project and prevailing market conditions. Ms Sturgeon said:
“It is a very positive news to be able to announce a further £50 million worth of savings from Scotland’s biggest infrastructure project in a generation.
“We have already seen last year’s savings from the FRC benefit other projects, allowing work to start early on the dualling of the A9 for example.
“The progress made since construction started in June 2011 means we have delivered £195 million worth of savings. The sound management and delivery of the scheme should be warmly welcomed.
“Not only is the project delivering value for money it is also benefitting the Scottish economy with subcontract and supply orders for Scottish companies and over 1,000 people currently directly employed on site.
“We recognise there are still challenges to overcome in the years ahead but it is very pleasing to report that with the first sections of deck being placed just last week, the project remains on schedule to be complete by the end of 2016.”
Background
- The Forth Replacement Crossing project will construct the new Queensferry Crossing bridge, including connecting road network
- Work has been completed on the M9 Junction 1A and Fife Intelligent Transport System as part of the project
- The budget for the Forth Replacement Crossing project has a set budget range of an upper and a lower limit
- The FRC budget has previously been set at £1.45 billion to £1.6 billion and was revised to £1.4 billion to £1.45 billion in September 2013
- In 2007 estimated costs for a new bridge stood at £3.2 billion to 4.2 billion
- In 2009 the managed crossing strategy expected costs of £1.7 billion to £2.3 billion and when work commenced in 2011 the cost range was £1.45 to £1.6 billion
- As of June 2014, 257 out of 453 FRC subcontracts (57 per cent) have been awarded to Scottish Firms and 196 (43 per cent) to non-Scottish companies
- 19,045 out of 20,861 supply orders (91 per cent) on the Principal Contract worth approximately £85 million out of a total of about £122 million (70 per cent) have been awarded to Scottish firms
- Over 365 Scottish firms have already benefitted from subcontracts and supply orders on the project with a total of about £175 million out of a total value of about £437 million (40 per cent)
- In August 2014 an average of 1070 people were directly employed on the Forth Replacement Crossing, with employment set to return to a peak of 1200 shortly.
Contact:
Mark Dunlop : 01383 421397 : 07920 595 449