Herefordshire Western Bypass Phase 1, valued at £45 million, faces retendering

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Herefordshire Council has approved continuing the preliminary design and cost adjustment work for Phase 1 of the Hereford Western Bypass, and has authorized the relevant department to complete rectification under the pre-construction services agreement with the existing contractor, so as to keep the subsequent construction contract within the established governance and budget framework. If, after adjustment, a construction scheme meeting the budget requirements still cannot be formed, the council has authorized the launch of a new construction contract procurement procedure.

Phase 1 is approximately 3.5 km long, located southwest of Hereford, planned to connect the A465 and the A49, and directly serve the Rotherwas employment area. The project adopts a two-stage design-and-build model. John Graham Construction obtained the Stage 1 pre-construction services agreement in April, with a contract value of approximately £1.86 million, responsible for further refining the design, verifying engineering risks, and producing a construction quotation. A total of 3 bidders participated in this procurement previously.

Herefordshire Council has allocated a £45 million capital budget for Phase 1. Preliminary work currently includes site preparation, fencing, geological surveys, trial pits, drainage and pavement surveys; land acquisition and compulsory purchase procedures are also being advanced in parallel. The council originally planned to start main construction in December 2026, but a September assessment showed that factors such as land, design, ecology, technical approvals, and cost still need to be resolved before the formal construction contract is signed.

The project assessment mechanism approved in April requires that a complete business case be completed before the start of main works, and that the construction scheme be confirmed to meet cost, design, and implementation conditions. The latest decision on September 24 further authorizes the relevant department to first work with the existing contractor to compress costs and optimize the scheme; if this process cannot produce an NEC4 engineering and construction contract that meets the budget, a new contractor may be procured again.

According to Herefordshire Council's plan, once Phase 1 is completed, it will form a new connection from the A465 to the A49; Phase 2 of the bypass will continue to extend the route to form a more complete outer urban corridor. Existing planning data show that after Phase 1 road is put into use, traffic volume on some sections of the A465 is expected to decrease by up to about 20%, and travel time from the A465 to the enterprise zone can be shortened by about 6.5 minutes.