04.03.13
Crossrail contracts worth £5.5bn boost jobs and economy
Nearly six in ten businesses in Crossrail’s supply chain are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) it has announced this morning, as it highlights that it has already awarded contracts worth more than £5.5bn, creating jobs and business all across the UK.
Crossrail says that 43% of businesses winning work are based outside London and the south east, as this map shows.
Its direct tier 1 contracts are contributing to the creation of at least 75,000 business opportunities covering the project’s direct contractors and their supply chains, it says. It is generating enough work to support the equivalent of 55,000 full time jobs throughout the project and its supply chain
The majority of contracts throughout the supply chain are yet to be awarded as the project’s main contractors still need to buy a wide range of goods, works and services from companies of all sizes.
Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail chief executive, said: “Crossrail is proving to be a much needed boost for a range of industries, creating and safeguarding jobs and providing tens of thousands of opportunities for UK businesses.
“Crossrail will not just benefit London and the southeast – the project’s economic benefits are being felt well beyond the confines of the M25. Firms right across the UK are winning business on the back of Europe’s largest construction project. Work is set to peak over the next two years, so it’s vital that businesses continue to seize the opportunities that Crossrail has to offer.”
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said Crossrail is “delivering benefits for the entire country and the wider business opportunities are enormous” while business secretary Vince Cable added: “Crossrail is the type of project that will help the UK build a stronger economy by improving our infrastructure and creating jobs across the country.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “I have long championed the fact that investment in infrastructure in the capital means investment, growth and jobs for the entire United Kingdom. Crossrail is the perfect example, with this innovative and game changing London transport project delivering thousands of jobs across the length and breadth of the UK.”
John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Crossrail is the perfect example of the benefits that come from investment in the UK’s transport infrastructure, and we hope its success is replicated in future infrastructure developments across the country. Although based in London and the south-east, Crossrail has created business confidence, jobs across the country in the medium term, and will improve the UK’s competitiveness in the long term. A project of this magnitude should benefit the whole country and we are delighted that the economic benefits are being felt across the UK.”
Crossrail released details of some firms that have benefited from Crossrail work, including:
Express Reinforcements of Neath, south Wales, which manufactures steel cages to reinforce concrete used at ten Crossrail sites. The work has created 80 temporary jobs and many more have been preserved.
Street Crane Co Ltd, based in High Peak, Derbyshire, has manufactured and installed ten cranes on the Crossrail project, weighing in at 180 tonnes with an equivalent overall length of 19 double decker buses end-to-end. Up to 60 employees were involved in the Crossrail contracts.
Cleveland Bridge, based in Darlington, County Durham, has supplied Crossrail with 2,500 tonnes of steel, which has gone to Bond Street and Canary Wharf stations.
Businesses looking for Crossrail work should sign up to the CompeteFor website – “a bit like an online dating service for businesses”, Crossrail says. They can also go to the suppliers section of the Crossrail website, and get in touch with their trade association.
To date, 1,701 UK businesses have secured work connected to the project, which has a ‘total funding envelope’ of £14.8bn.
On Friday, we published the latest images of Crossrail’s progress under the streets of London.
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