National Highways Depots

Our Approach

The development of Bescot, Doxey, Strensham and Warndon depots within Area 9 sought to improve the West Midlands operational model by bringing together National Highways’ staff with traffic officers, contractors and its maintenance partner, Colas, in modern working environments.

Procured through the SCAPE National Construction framework, Morgan Sindall constructed two new office buildings and associated external areas at Bescot and Doxey, while also fully refurbishing existing depots at Warndon and Strensham. A new service garage and modular salt barn were also constructed at the Strensham depot.

The use of the SCAPE framework also granted National Highways access to Perfect Circle, an independent design and construction consultancy framework. Acting as the client advisor, Perfect Circle and its partner, Gleeds, provided project and construction management, compliance guidance and contractual and technical support throughout the project.

As well as implementing the client’s ‘hub and spoke’ model for the very first time, the project also offered National Highways the opportunity to apply its ‘Workplace Design’ guide to ensure the depots were built to the same exacting standards as the rest of its national offices. National Highways was also able to review the layout of its depots, both from an operational, safety and well-being perspective. Vehicle segregation was identified as a key element, along with employee health and well-being, with considerations around welfare and first aid facilities, correct lighting, and ergonomic desks and chairs all extensively considered.

Conducting the works in parallel helped all four projects to complete in just 10 months whilst also minimising disruptions to the depots and the wider road network. It also guaranteed higher levels of quality and consistency. Following the handover of the first depot, Warndon, the standard for the remaining depots to achieve was set – or as was often the case, surpass. Not only were successes replicated and cost savings passed on, but invaluable ‘lessons learned’ were incorporated into the next project, along with key project members to oversee delivery to the same standard. Following the completion of all four depots, the client scored the project team and handover 9.5/10 and 9/10 respectively, while also scoring the project 9/10 in quality.

Sustainability at its heart

Working towards National Highways’ net zero carbon and environmental commitments, a focused and innovative approach to sustainability was adopted.

Numerous carbon-reducing technologies – such as air source heat pumps, solar panels, and smart energy-saving lighting systems – were chosen to improve the operational efficiency of the depots. The project team also worked collaboratively with its supply chain to encourage waste reduction from the build. As part of the company’s ‘10 Tonne Challenge’ initiative, aggregate produced from the demolition of an existing building at Bescot was crushed and recycled, rather than being sent to landfill. The team also recycled more than 3,000 tonnes of coal tar found on the Strensham site, while excess materials and offcuts were donated to Walsall College to help reduce waste.

Adopting Morgan Sindall’s Intelligent Solutions approach, the team worked with bulk storage buildings supplier, Eurodome, to facilitate the construction of a modular salt barn at Strensham. Using a more efficient, lightweight design, off-site production and reduced transportation, a total of 441 tonnes of carbon was saved when compared with the design of a traditional salt barn.

Finally, our carbon calculator, CarboniCa, was used to measure whole life carbon emissions of the depots – a first for National Highways. As well as helping improve the whole life carbon performance of the original design by 38%, CarboniCa’s findings can also be used to influence future design decisions through its wide range of lower-carbon recommendations.

Enhancing Communities

As a company we are always committed to delivering a social and economic boost to the local communities. However, due to the remote locations of the depots, this proved challenging.

The team worked tirelessly to overcome this, achieving an average Social Value return of 39%, ensuring that more than £8.1m was reinvested with the local area. In total, 72% of all project spend was with businesses located within 30 miles, while 97% of the project spend was with small to medium businesses. More than £100k was also spent with a number of Social Enterprises, whose primary purposes are to try to redress social or environmental imbalances within the construction industry. This included working closely with Nuneaton Signs, who provides meaningful employment and training for people with disabilities through the production of temporary and permanent signage. Consideration was also given to the local area and residents, with full CCS (45/45) and CLOCS scores (23/23) reflecting its sympathetic delivery.

Looking to inspire the next generation of construction, the project helped facilitate 229 apprenticeship weeks. The team also volunteered 173 hours and raised more than £6,700 for numerous local community initiatives. One example involved representatives from Morgan Sindall Construction, National Highways, and Gleeds raising £2,000 in a charity walk for the Midlands Air Ambulance, a charity located close to the Strensham depot.

Testimonials

"The work we do at National Highways - operating, maintaining, and improving our roads - is carried out at our depots, control rooms and outstations, not in city centre offices. It’s paramount that we give people in those buildings a great place to work, near the road network, where they can plan and carry out their roles. Depots like this are also giving us the opportunity to think again about how we work.” – Nick Harris, CEO of National Highways

“We’ve seen the benefits since we’ve engaged SCAPE and their approach to getting projects in flight. We had a really open and collaborative relationship. Because of the time pressures, using SCAPE and bundling the four projects together enabled us to condense the work on four depot’s in parallel. SCAPE brought that quick route to market, allowing us to engage Morgan Sindall through the early feasibility which helped complete the design in the shortest possible time. One of the amazing outcomes is we’ve delivered all four depots in just 10 months.” – Ciprian Ciuraru, Project Manager, National Highways

“We’re really sensitive about the communities around us and we worked really hard to try and source as many suppliers from the local area – close to three out of every four pounds that were spent on these depots went to businesses within a 30 mile radius, which is fantastic for the local community.” – Duncan Smith, Executive Director - Operations, National Highways