Work on five Liverpool highways schemes, totalling £4.9m, ground to a halt in the summer when contractors VIAM collapsed into administration but is now set to restart. Tony McDonough reports

New contractors have been appointed to complete five stalled highways schemes in Liverpool following the collapse of a previous contractor.

Progress on five schemes in total, which had a combined £4.9m of work left to complete, were affected when VIAM collapsed into administration in the summer. Now Liverpool City Council has appointed new contractors.

Contractors for two of these schemes, which were less complex in nature – resurfacing on Kingsley Road in Toxteth and new lighting on County Road (A59) in Walton – were appointed via the authority’s planned works framework. 

The lighting works, carried out by Siemens, have completed and Huyton Civils will finalise works on Kingsley Road in the next two weeks. Following a tendering process, contractors have now been appointed for the remaining schemes:   

• A59 / County Road and Walton Lane – resurfacing, ducting, kerbing and other civils, delivered by Huyton Asphalt.   
• A565 / Derby Road – resurfacing, ducting, kerbing and other civils, delivered by Dowhigh.
• Byrom Street – pedestrian crossing, delivered by Colas.   

Each scheme will be subject to site investigations to validate works completed to date and to establish what works are left to be undertaken. Various works across the sites will be carried out over the coming weeks, weather permitting.

They will then pause for the city’s Christmas break which will begin on November 26, resuming January 9, 2022. The Byrom Street scheme will however continue and is scheduled to complete in mid- December.

Liverpool City Council is also currently making a full site assessment of Lime Street, following the collapse of the scheme’s contractor – NMCN – and will advertise the completion tender in December. 

Cllr Daniel Barrington, Cabinet member for Climate Emergency, Transport and Environment, said: “The stalling of these highways schemes was a huge blow. We share the frustrations of everyone affected and we apologise for the delays.

“The varying nature of these schemes has presented numerous challenges to get the works back on track and although we’ve moved as fast as possible, we know it’s not been as fast as people wanted.

“The upgrades to the A59 and A565, in particular, are more complex and costly as they are of huge consequence to our overall highways network and their completion requires many more steps in the tendering process.

“The stalling of Lime Street has further tested people’s patience which I understand. Our Highways team are working flat out to get this hugely important scheme back on its feet as quickly as possible.”