Portsmouth City Council – Highways Structures Management

• Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire
• Client: Portsmouth City Council (Via Ensign Highways & Colas)
• Year: Ongoing
• Sector: Highways & Transportation |
• Specialisms: Asset Management | Bridge Engineering | Geotechnical Engineering | Highways Engineering | Project Management |

Pell Frischmann has been supporting Ensign Highways and Colas on their 25-year Highways Maintenance PFI contract with Portsmouth City Council.  Pell Frischmann plays an essential role on the scheme by providing management, maintenance and consultancy services as part of the asset management of the council’s bridges and other highway structures.  Portsmouth is an island and port city located in the Hampshire in the southeast of England. This contract forms an essential part of ensuring the city maintains a strong transport network.

What we are doing

Pell Frischmann has extensive experience in the management and maintenance of highway structures.  Our experienced team of qualified engineers adopt a strategic approach, tailoring requirements of relevant approved national codes of practice to the specific needs of the local highway authorities.

With experience and lessons learned from similar contracts across both rail and highways sectors, Pell Frischmann provides high-quality services in the delivery and risk-based management of inspections, assessments and reviews of various structures.

Our capability in the full range of bridge engineering specialism allows us to deliver robust solutions in the feasibility, design of maintenance/upgrading schemes such as expansion joint repairs and pier protection. Our service also includes the management of abnormal load movements through the local road network. Innovatively, we generate heavy load routes onto GIS mapping to improve on the efficiency of assessing route suitability.

Outcomes so far

With rising numbers of substandard bridges and the growing demands of climate change, we understand the increasing pressures faced by local highway authorities in managing and maintaining their assets.  Our holistic approach to the management, maintenance and design of highway structures provides the council with the capability needed to maximise the lifecycle of their structural assets and help fulfil the objectives of their Highways Asset Management Plan.

We revitalised the asset-management system used, ensuring all structure information, inspection, and maintenance programmes are incorporated. This allows future asset management to be continued efficiently and effectively beyond the current contract.

Our philosophy consistently focuses on the needs of the end-user, ensuring that our management strategies and design solutions are optimal and cost-effective, whilst minimising the short term and long-term impact on the road network.