Steer Davies Gleave are Lenders’ Technical Advisor to the Via Brugge consortium that has been selected as preferred bidder for the A11 PPP which provides the “missing link” in the Brugges ring road in Belgium. Via Brugge comprises contractors Jan de Nul, Aswebo, Aclagro, van Laere and Franki with DG Infra+ providing private equity. Via Brugge will be responsible for construction (anticipated to be four years) and maintenance for 30 years.
The project comprises 13 km of motorway between Brugges and Knokke connecting the port of Zeebrugge with the E40 and E34 highways. The project incorporates nearly 90 civil engineering structures including two bascule (lifting) bridges over the ship canal and a 1,040 m long viaduct. The project team designed to minimise whole-life costs. The total project cost is reported to be €554M at Net Present Value of which €310M is construction cost.
Steer Davies Gleave’s LTA team was led by Paul Hollingsworth with Julian Sindall focusing upon the structures and programme, Luc Tousseyn advising on geotechnical and highways, Mieke Dervaux reviewing the demanding environmental aspects and Andy Evans advising on the specialist tunnel systems. Elke Rosiers and Luc Tousseyn provided the team with support with Flemish language and local issues.