Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

M25 Junctions 12 - 15 Widening

In 2003, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering was awarded the £148 million contract to widen the 10-mile stretch of the M25, between Junction 12 (the M3 Interchange) and Junction 15 (the M4 Interchange).

The M25 orbital route around London is one of Europe's busiest motorways, carrying more than 200,000 vehicles a day on this section.

The contract also included the construction of the Stage 2 Heathrow Terminal 5 Spur Road, a dedicated 1km-long free-flow connection to Terminal 5 via an altered Junction 14, for which the client was BAA.

The project began in early 2004 and was completed in only 100 weeks in December 2005.

The first section, between Junctions 12 and 14, was widened from four to five lanes and the second section, the remainder to the M4 Interchange, from four to six lanes.

All the widening works were completed within the existing highway boundary, with no additional land-take necessary, using a combination of steepened earthwork slopes and piled reinforced-concrete retaining walls.

Traffic was kept flowing by well-planned traffic management, comprehensive surveillance using 110 CCTV cameras and an on-site control room, high-quality vehicle recovery and a reception area for stranded motorists.

Surrey Police reported a 25% reduction in injury collisions on this section of motorway during the widening construction, compared to the year before.

Over 90% of aggregates and fills used in the project were from recycled sources, measures which resulted in a National Award for the project from Highways Magazine.

Other achievements included setting up the first dedicated off-site recycling facility for the supply of aggregates to a major motorway contract, and reducing waste disposal by recycling and maximising re-use on site.

A constant communication and media campaign kept local residents, businesses and the travelling public well-informed.

Balfour Beatty has a substantial amount of successful experience of working in the south-west quadrant of the M25 in terms of both original construction and subsequent widening

• It was responsible for the original construction of the southern end of the Junctions 12-15 segment and, subsequently, for its widening in the late 1980s
• Other previous work includes the M25 Junctions 8-10 contract, worth £93 million, and the M25 Junctions 10-13 contract, worth £30 million

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