May Gurney has announced that following a competitive tender process it has signed a long-term framework contract with British Waterways for the maintenance and improvement of its canals and rivers.

The four-year contract, with a possible two-year extension, is estimated to be worth around £20m per year.

The contract, which began mobilisation in January 2009 and is effective from April 2009, includes a range of maintenance and improvement activities across approximately 80 to 150 projects each year. Covering British Waterways' 2,200 mile network in England, Wales and Scotland, the contract includes repairs to 200 year-old locks, bridges, aqueducts, weirs, reservoirs, tunnels, towpaths, embankments and cuttings.


While the major works contract excludes spend on waterways dredging, May Gurney is also likely to deliver a number of additional third party funded canal improvement projects on behalf of British Waterways and its partners.

(CD/BMcC)