Amey work

[Doom 10]

Doom, you're right in thinking that a lot of the staff are from Streetforce, also a significant number from Kier Group but also many subcontractors involved.

 

Cheers!

 

I think it was Kier who probably took over the SWD workforce when they won the contract for Sheffield Homes.

 

I suspect the culture within the company changed after Kier took over, but certainly when I dealt with SWD the work force were less professional than I experienced with contractors like Boots, Tarmac etc.

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Rivelin6 11]

Cheers!

 

I think it was Kier who probably took over the SWD workforce when they won the contract for Sheffield Homes.

 

I suspect the culture within the company changed after Kier took over, but certainly when I dealt with SWD the work force were less professional than I experienced with contractors like Boots, Tarmac etc.

 

Regards

 

Doom

Kier are a joke, we are all doomed I tell ya!

[Jabroni 10]

Calling people dear doesn't mean you have a valid point it just means to have to belittle people because your argument is week. Were you there last night or psychic? Explain to me then why they kept coming to a stop outside our house doing a three point turn and then going back up the road to repeat the same maneuver around 8 times in two minutes! Maybe they were testing how crap their road laying skills are. After that there was all quiet on the Western Front apart from noise in the distance so a pointless exercise I think. Boys with big toys.........

 

 

They are doing it purposefully to wind you up!

 

And good on 'em I say, I would too.

 

Wait till they get the whacker out... Now that's noisy...

 

---------- Post added 06-06-2013 at 09:39 ----------

 

Call me mr git but put up lamppost in feb, not connect it in june is very poor? Or am i unreasonable?

 

It's unreasonable that our roads, pavements and street lights have been in a shocking state for the last 20 years... Now they are getting sorted out and people start moaning about it...

[Goooooogle 10]

Pretty sure SCC will have agreed to the working hours, if not, and Amey are working outside the agreed permitted hours, they'll be facing hefty financial penalties.

 

It's a fixed price contract, so Amey paying overtime has no impact on SCC, unless it's something not within the remit of the contract and specifically requested by SCC.

 

How are you sure of this? The contract is not yet available to the public?

 

I have asked SCC and Amey for a copy...not forthcoming.

 

The lady at Amey I spoke to (in customer relations/service) did say that she knew it was looking like a V poor deal for them though...

 

She had been in the roadworks industry for 20+ years and they have been finding all kinds of issues under the surface which they had not costed for.

 

One of the directors of Amey PLC has 92 directors appointments - most of them are Amey this Ltd and Amey that Ltd.

The whole shebang is owned by Ferrovial SA , A mulitbillion Euro turnover Spanish company...

 

Anyone know which Amey Ltd company SCC signed the contract with?

 

Or was it signed with Amey Plc? Amey UK Plc? or Ferrovial?

 

If it was with one of the Ltd companies , what would happen if Amey XYZ Sheffield Ltd ran out of money and was wound up well before our roads are done...?

 

I hope SCC have considered this outcome.

[mapleboy 10]

Calling people dear doesn't mean you have a valid point it just means to have to belittle people because your argument is week. Were you there last night or psychic? Explain to me then why they kept coming to a stop outside our house doing a three point turn and then going back up the road to repeat the same maneuver around 8 times in two minutes! Maybe they were testing how crap their road laying skills are. After that there was all quiet on the Western Front apart from noise in the distance so a pointless exercise I think. Boys with big toys.........

8 times in two minutes. sounds like a roller to me, the machine they use to compact the fresh asphalt. How do you think it gets compacted, the compaction pixies? If it was a van, 8 times in two minutes, they must have been shifting quick. So don't moan about them being lazy.

[the_rudeboy 12]

How are you sure of this? The contract is not yet available to the public?

 

I have asked SCC and Amey for a copy...not forthcoming.

 

The highway authority have to approve any permits to work in the highway, be it BT, NPG, Amey etc. If they don't like the proposals, any permit will be refused.

 

The PFI contract probably runs to several thousand pages, so no wonder they're not forthcoming in letting you have a copy.

[Dannyno 19]

Stop being so patronising, the law stated on Sheffield Environmental Health website where it says work should be done between 7.30-6pm weekdays. I had contact with Environmental Health before over a factory leaving their fan on over night where I used to live. They took it very seriously and came out and made them build a box around it. Some people have regard for other peoples liberties!

 

You're not quite correct about what Environmental Health say on their website.

 

This is what they actually say, and it's not as cut and dried as "digging up a road at midnight is illegal":

 

As a general rule where residential occupiers are concerned we expect that the following working hours shall be adopted for construction sites:

Monday to Friday 7:30am to 6pm

Saturday 8am to 1pm

Sundays or Public Holidays - no working.

On some occasions there may be valid reasons for working outside these hours in certain situations. In such cases we expect the contractor to use advance publicity to warn residents and outline their plans to minimise any disturbance.

 

Source: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/environment/environmental-health/pollution/noise-pollution/industrial/construction.html

 

So there's a couple of points there. First, that this is a *general* rule. And second, that "there may be valid reasons" for working outside the generally expected hours. And third, that they expect contractors to inform residents. Did they do this?

 

---------- Post added 06-06-2013 at 21:26 ----------

 

The highway authority have to approve any permits to work in the highway, be it BT, NPG, Amey etc. If they don't like the proposals, any permit will be refused.

 

The PFI contract probably runs to several thousand pages, so no wonder they're not forthcoming in letting you have a copy.

 

PFI contracts may be restricted access on grounds of commercial confidentiality. Commercial considerations are one of the reasons a public body can give for refusing a freedom of information request.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/43

 

But no harm in trying - submit a formal request for a copy.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Dannyno

[Doom 10]

I don't like pdf files and so after a brief look I went to the trouble of ringing Amey and asking them, they said all roads if they are maintained by the council will recieve attention, the only one's not included are private ones. This also includes all pavements although different phases of the jobs may be done at different times. I pushed them a little further and was then told that if a road was a new build it might not require the same attention but with new lights going in then I'd imagine that even new roads/pavements are going to recieve some attention. If you want to give me the name of a road that you think is not having anything done to it then let me know and I'll happily go back and ask for further info from Amey

 

They're currently finishing off on our estate and our road has certainly not been resurfaced.

 

I would say 50% of the roads on our estate are being resurfaced.

 

I'd also point out that they're only planing and resurfacing the wearing course, so I wouldn't be surprised to see all the newly surfaced roads breaking up in 4 or 5 years time.

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Dozer 13]

Doom, That's a really interesting point. I don't know anything about road construction, but it sounds like you know what you're talking about. What would they need to do to make the roads last longer?

 

They're currently finishing off on our estate and our road has certainly not been resurfaced.

 

I would say 50% of the roads on our estate are being resurfaced.

 

I'd also point out that they're only planing and resurfacing the wearing course, so I wouldn't be surprised to see all the newly surfaced roads breaking up in 4 or 5 years time.

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Doom 10]

A complete new road would consist of a compacted stone hardcore, tarmac base course and a tarmac wearing course.

 

I'm certainly no engineer, but I would think if you're placing a new wearing course over an exisiting base course that has any weaknesses in it, in time this would impact on the nice new wearing course.....the surface will only be as strong as what's beneath it.

 

I know they resurfaced Wortley Road a few years ago and it wasn't long before it all started to break up and we had the same old issue of pot holes....That's because the wearing course is only a cosmetic exercise.

 

I hope I'm wrong, but my guess is that given a few bad Winters we'll start to see these new wearing courses breaking up within 4 or 5 years, maybe even sooner.

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Dozer 13]

That sounds bad. In your estate they're only doing the tarmac wearing course, not the hardcore or the tarmac base?

 

Thanks for the explanation. I'll be Googling this weekend to learn more. At times like this I realise despite middle age I'm essentially still an 8-year-old boy when it comes to construction equipment.

[Doom 10]

That sounds bad. In your estate they're only doing the tarmac wearing course, not the hardcore or the tarmac base?

 

Thanks for the explanation. I'll be Googling this weekend to learn more. At times like this I realise despite middle age I'm essentially still an 8-year-old boy when it comes to construction equipment.

 

They've only planed and replaced the wearing course on our estate.

 

I would guess if they do find any issues with the base course they would also consider doing patch repairs to it, but these things aren't always immediately apparent.

 

The problem with doing the full replacement would obviously be cost and time (disruption to residents).

 

It will be interesting to see how long the new surfaces do last, but I know on the roads where we have had new wearing courses carried our previously they are starting to break up.

 

Wortley Road started to break up within a few months.

 

Greaves Lane (down past the dump-it site) lasted longer (3 - 4 years), but that's also starting to break up a little now.

 

I'm sure Planner 1 understands these things far better than me, so he maybe able to explain it better.

 

Regards

 

Doom