Spencer Group has secured more than £30m of work in the last three months, culminating in the award of a multi-million pound package of works for London Underground.
The engineering company has secured a number of major contracts across the UK, totalling around £33m, since the start of the year.
New works include the installation of 12,000m2 of paving at King George Dock in Hull on behalf of ABP, the extension and upgrade of First Great Western’s flagship train care depot in Reading, the construction of a multi-storey car park at Rochester Station for Medway Council and the second phase of works to achieve step-free-access at Finsbury Park Underground Station, worth £20m alone.
Spencer has also begun work with Babcock Rail to deliver a £1.9m refurbishment of Eastleigh Depot which includes creating new foundations to pave the way for the relocation of a weighbridge.
Gary Thornton, managing director at Spencer, said: “We have had a strong start to the year. Having delivered our first works on behalf of London Underground over the Christmas period, we are delighted to have been awarded the contract to deliver the second phase of a package of improvements at Finsbury Park Underground Station.
“Our performance across the first six months of 2015 has also been boosted by a number of other notable contract wins as well as our ongoing successful delivery across all of our jobs on the ground at Hackney, Wemyss Bay and Apperley Bridge to name a few.
“Spencer has undergone a comprehensive reorganisation of its senior management team in the same period in order to continue to deliver exceptional results across all of its projects.”
The company has also received widespread praise in recent months from community groups and residents to MPs and government ministers for its delivery of projects up and down the UK.
The team delivering major refurbishments works at Scotland’s Wemyss Bay Station were praised by local community group Friends of Wemyss Bay Station during a guided tour of the facility. In West Yorkshire, Spencer’s team was recognised for its ongoing delivery of the multi-million pound West Yorkshire Rail Growth (WYRG) project during visits to Apperley Bridge Station and Kirkstall Forge Station by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
Spencer has also picked up a string of industry awards in recent months, including the Smeaton Award for projects worth between £500,000 and £5m at the Institution of Civil Engineers’ annual Yorkshire and Humber Awards for its works at the Humber Bridge in Hull and a Bronze Award from the Considerate Constructors Scheme for its work at Gravesend Station.
It has also won the ICE South East England Engineering Innovation Award for the pedestrian subway slide carried out as part of the East Kent Resignalling project during Easter 2014.
This follows last year’s award wins in the Network Rail Partnership Awards for Best Large Project in the UK on Ipswich Chord, the Modern Railways Innovation Award for the company’s work at Gravesend Station and a National Rail Award for its innovative platform extension work in Wessex. In 2014, Spencer was also awarded BS11000, an accreditation for its collaborative approach to working with clients – one of only a small handful of organisations to achieve the rigorous standard in the UK.
As quick as new projects are being won, existing ones are drawing closer to completion.
Spencer is set to complete works to improve access to both Hackney stations in June. Following the installation of the new walkway, lift and stairs, the team will then complete the external works, landscaping, tenancy reinstatements, car parking and drainage by mid-July.
The project, which is being delivered on behalf of London Overground, will provide a passenger walkway between two adjoining lines serving Platform 2 at Hackney Central Overground station and Platform 1 at Hackney Downs rail station. The 200m walkway will enable rail users to access both stations without leaving either station.
Works at Wemyss Bay Station in Scotland are progressing well and remain on course for completion in early 2016 while Spencer is also carrying out suspended span gantry improvements to the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland.
Spencer’s in-house design team has also been kept busy with a number of designs being submitted to Network Rail for the remodelling of depots in Scotland and England under its SNE MAFA Framework.
In recent years, Spencer has played a pivotal role in the development of a number of renewable projects, including advanced gasification plant Energy Works.
Energy Works, which is being developed in partnership with M+W Group, has now been awarded a Contract for Difference (CFD) that will support it through to 2033, with the project moving towards financial close in the summer.
CFD’s are handed out by the Department of Energy & Climate Change to subsidise green energy projects.
Mr Thornton said the company’s ability to undertake a vast scope of projects with various requirements as well as is helping Spencer stand out from the crowd.
He said: “Our performance across all of our projects on the ground has been very strong and, while we are delighted to have won some fantastic contracts recently, we are acutely aware of the need to handover existing schemes of work that are of the highest standard. And we will do that.
“Our expertise in a variety of fields allows us to tender for a range of different works. As the latest contract wins show, we are fully equipped to take on projects across various sectors. We are equally as comfortable delivering single discipline projects as we are completing complex multidiscipline packages of works.
“We have a growing presence in emerging markets, including renewables and waterways, and we are looking to build on that as well as strengthen our position in our more traditional sectors over the next six months.
“The future is very bright for our multi-disciplinary business and, having invested in the right people with the right experience and expertise, we are in a fantastic position to continue our recent performance.”
Spencer Group’s latest project wins
Finsbury Park Phase 2 for London Underground
London Underground has appointed Spencer Group to work on improvements to Finsbury Park Underground Station to help it achieve step-free-access by 2018.
The main works include the construction of a new western entrance to replace the existing Wells Terrace entryway, the build of two lift shafts and extending one of the current passageways (no. 4) to link up to the new entrance, existing platforms and join it to the new residential and commercial development currently underway.
Finsbury Station, which is situated within the London Borough of Islington, will remain open while the works are underway to their circa 176 million passengers per year.
Spencer has already begun design for the redevelopment which will double the capacity for commuters and reduce congestion by enhancing connectivity from ground level to the underground platforms. Spencer will start on-site from October with all works being completed by Spring 2018.
ABP King George Dock Paving
Spencer Group has also been awarded a contract to construct 12,000m2 of paving, on behalf of ABP, at King George Dock in Hull.
Spencer began work on the 26th May 2015 and will be finished on-site by the end of August. The works consist of a large cut and fill earthworks operation, followed by the installation of new drainage, ducting, kerbing and 3no 25m high mast lights.
The new paved area will be used for the storage of timber by Global Shipping, a break-bulk cargo operator in the Humber ports.
Spencer Group has been awarded a new project working with First Great Western at their flagship Reading Train Care Depot.
Spencer Group has been awarded the extension and upgrade to First Great Western’s flagship Train Care Depot in Reading.
Part of the Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme, Spencer will begin detail design works immediately and the newly upgraded depot will be operational by June 2016, ready to accommodate the new fleet of trains bound for the Great Western Main Line.
Spencer will extend the existing train shed to create space for the new wheel lathe facility (WLF), P-Way will be extended to allow trains to access the WLF and the depot’s carriage wash will be re-located into a temporary location to allow the works to be completed. Office / training rooms and welfare accommodation will also be built within the extension for the depot staff.
The depot location is on the boundary of the Reading Music Festival and keeping the facility fully operational throughout the duration of the contract, will no doubt throw up some challenges for Spencer.
Rochester Riverside Car Park for Medway Council
As a spin off from working on the East Kent Re-signalling contract for Network Rail, where Spencer is building the new Rochester Station, it is now going to be contracted to build the multi-storey station car park as well. One of the key stakeholders involved in this East Kent Re-signalling scheme is Medway Council with whom, over the last two years, Spencer has built an excellent relationship. This is now reaping rewards.
With the new Rochester Station due to open in December 2015 Medway Council were keen to commence re-development of the surrounding area. The first stage of this re-development is to be the construction of a new multi-storey car park to serve not only the station but also the proposed new Riverside Development.
In January 2015, Spencer was initially engaged by the Medway Council to undertake a feasible study, concept design and budget for the new 6 level car park which is to be completed to coincide with the station opening in December 2015. After successfully undertaking this study Spencer was awarded the £160,000 contract to design the new car park together with being invited to tender for the construction works.
