Staffordshire Alliance Project Team Wins Collaborative Working Award

The Staffordshire Alliance project, a joint venture of Laing O'Rourke, Network Rail, Atkins and VolkerRail, has been named as the winner of Collaborative Working accolade at the 2016 UK Railway Industry awards.

The team recently handed over the £250m upgrade to the West Coast Main Line including 10 kilometres of new line,  under budget and over a year ahead of schedule.

The project also was the first in the UK to be established as a 'pure alliance', with all partners working together on equal terms in shared office locations, resulting in a close and highly efficient team ethos and close relationship.  This successful operating model is now considered by many to be the blueprint for future infrastructure projects.

"The operational benefits of all partners working together to share common goals have proved to be really successful on the Staffordshire Alliance, " said John Wilkinson, Business Unit Leader, Infrastructure.  "Combined with innovative construction techniques such as offsite manufacturing and digital design, we have delivered this project meeting sensitive environmental requirements well ahead of schedule, under budget, and vitally, with reduced disruption to the travelling public and our neighbours in the communities we work alongside."

"This master class in collaborative working has delivered real value for money, with our customer and stakeholders realising the benefits from the project investment over a year ahead of that originally envisaged."