Purpose

Background to scheme

There is a drive from the King’s School’s Head Teacher,
LCC’s Traffic Signals team and the local Councillor for the
existing pedestrian crossing at Brook Street, Grantham to be
upgraded by September 2025 to make it safer for all to cross at the
location.

A site survey of the crossing was undertaken by the Principal
Traffic Signals Engineer who has identified the following issues
and solutions in conjunction with the Head Teacher and Local
Councillor:

•The first issue is that the existing pedestrian is narrow and
there is a requirement for it to be widened to allow more students
and residents to cross the road at peak times;
•The second issue is that there is insufficient guard rail to
encourage all to just cross at the crossing so there is a
requirement for more pedestrian guard rail to be introduced to
ensure safe crossing for all.
•Finally the current signal equipment has reached the end of
its operational life and spare parts are becoming obsolete so there
is a requirement to upgrade the existing equipment to current
standards.
The following is being introduced to make the site safer:
•The existing crossing is being widened from 3.6m to 7.6m to
enable more general public and school children to cross at the same
time more safely;
•Additional guard rail is being introduced to encourage people
to use the crossing safely;
•New kerbing and tactile paving will be installed to meet
current standards.
Procurement Options

LCC has reviewed several procurement routes to deliver the civils
element of the refurbishment of the pedestrian crossing scheme by
September 2025.
Firstly, LCC approached Balfour Beatty but their forward programme
is full until March 2026. In addition, there is no option to
sub-contract the work as several other schemes need to be delivered
in the school holiday period of August 2025.

Secondly the other option reviewed was to employ Crown Highways to
deliver the scheme via Colas as a Design and Build contract but
this incurs an additional fee, which can’t be reduced, and
does not represent good value for money for a stand-alone
project.

Thirdly LCC has discussed the option of tendering the work, but it
is likely that as the works are only five weeks of construction
that this could either result in no tenders or high tender
costs.

Therefore it is proposed that LCC seek a price from Crown Highways
directly to complete the work, with a view to entering into a
contract to complete the work in August 2025. Upon receipt LCC will
review the construction costs and challenge where required.

Crown Highways have successfully delivered the civils elements of
the 12 pedestrian crossing schemes across Lincolnshire. The
contractor delivered the civils to LCC standards alongside good
contract management and coordination of Traffic Management to time
and cost.

Crown Highways have indicated that they are available to deliver
the scheme in the timescales outlined.

This exemption is for the procurement of Crown Highways to carry
out the civils construction of the pedestrian crossing at Brook
Street, Grantham.
An estimate for the civils works has been completed and is likely
to be circa £200,000.

Decision

That approval is given for the Executive
Director for Place to enter into a contract with Crown Highways for
the provision of construction of the civils works associated with
the Brook Street, Grantham pedestrian crossing scheme, as an
exemption to the Contract and Procurement Procedure
Rules.