Category: News

New industry guidance from the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) and council directors’ body ADEPT provides best practice and technical information on asphalt surface course preservation treatments.

The guidance note outlines the process of asphalt preservation and highlights the responsibilities of client, contractor and installer concerning planning and co-ordination, health and safety, environment and work execution.

Reference is also made to the relevant regulations, standards and training qualifications.

‘Products used for Asphalt Preservation must be manufactured under BS EN ISO 9001. Additionally, Asphalt Preservation Treatments can be independently certificated under the Highway Authorities Product Approval Scheme (HAPAS) or equivalent product acceptance scheme certification,’ the guidance states.

Welcoming the new guidance, Rory O’Connor, RSTA interim chief executive, said: ‘The new guidance note provides information on the right way to apply asphalt preservation treatments and gives practical advice to both client and contractor. Its use will ensure best industry practice that will result in the successful application of asphalt preservatives.’

Asphalt preservatives involves the spray application of a sealant treatment onto bituminous-bound road surfaces that consequently restricts water ingress and inhibits binder oxidation.

By providing a protective seal, it can significantly extend the performance life of an asphalt road surface, but it will only work on bituminous bound surfaces.

There are two types of preservation treatments, penetrative and non-penetrative:

Penetrative treatments

• These are solvent-based and as such on application facilitate some penetration of the binder coating.
• They comprise a blend of bitumen and/or, hydrocarbon resins, diluents, plasticisers and may be fortified with natural-based bitumen.

Non-penetrative treatments

• These are bituminous emulsions.
• They comprise of proprietary blends of bitumen, polymers and other additives designed to seal and protect the road surface.

The guidance advises: ‘It is important that current skid resistance data is available when considering the application of a preservation treatment to a high speed road.

‘Preservatives should only be considered where readings are adequately above the relevant investigatory level/s, as there is usually a temporary decrease in skid resistance post-application. However, the skid resistance levels will return to their original values, the rate of this is proportional to the site’s traffic levels.

‘The installer will determine if additional measures are needed to maintain adequate skid resistance.’

The National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG) has announced a major milestone in the development of new national winter service guidance, with the publication of the planning section.

A full list of the published sections of the guidance is available here.

The NWSRG also revealed that the Forecasting and Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) section is currently with the UK Roads Board for approval before going to UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) for final release.

Chair of the NWSRG Chris Cranston said: ‘The NWSRG is pleased to announce that the UKRLG has recently given its approval to allow the latest section of the NWSRG guidance “Planning for Winter Service Delivery” to be published, which should provide an excellent platform to allow authorities to review their winter service plans this summer, with the inclusion of a handy checklist.

‘It also links together other parts of the guidance. Last week the Forecasting and RWIS section of the guidance was submitted to the UKRB for their approval and is expected to be published this summer.’

The latest (2016) version of the UKRLG’s national code of good practice for highway maintenance, Well-managed Highway Infrastructure, no longer provides detailed guidance for winter service and a result, the UKRB called on the NWSRG to make its Practical Guide generally available.

The NWSRG then set about updating the previous winter guidance, known as Appendix H, which was generally considered to be technically very sound but laborious in practice.

The NWSRG is a major supporter of Cold Comfort and is partnering with our magazine for a new winter service category at the Highways Awards this year. If you or anyone you know stands out in this critical area of highways, please click here to enter.

Highways understands the Government is establishing a series of national recovery groups covering areas including economy, transport and environment.

Local directors’ body ADEPT has also established an ‘economic recovery and renewal’ task force to help integrate these national efforts at the local level and has set its sights firmly on transformation after the lockdown rather than just a return to normal.

In a statement, ADEPT said: ‘We believe these plans need to be joined up and to be more than just recovery; they need to be about place-shaping and renewal while not losing sight of the huge challenges of climate change.

‘This is what ADEPT members do – place directors bring all the different elements of making places together in one place (e.g. economy, infrastructure, housing, planning, environment etc.).’

The task force would have a key role in producing policy position statements and guidance for sustainable economic renewal and place-shaping after the coronavirus crisis.

ADEPT said it would help ‘encourage greater join-up across government departments, to consider place-shaping and renewal of places/economies as part of COVID-19 recovery planning and national policy’.

The initial membership will be a sub-group of the ADEPT leadership team: Darryl Eyers, Peter Geraghty, Mark Kemp, Adrian Smith, Sue Halliwell, Paula Hewitt, Neil Gibson, Hannah Bartram plus Philip Cox representing our LEP members.

These members are meeting weekly for six weeks in the first phase.

The aims of the task force are to:

• Ensure economic recovery planning considers the whole place system agenda and goes further than recovery into renewal and transformation of economies and places
• Shape the national approach to economic recovery to be about wider place-shaping and green economic renewal
• Provide ADEPT members with the tools, information and guidance (policy/practical) to enable them to deliver broader socio-economic renewal and place-shaping plans in their localities
• Join up with all aspects of recovery within the public sector (links to ADASS, ADCS, ADPH, LGA, LEP Network, etc.).

The task force will help gather intelligence and evidence on localised economic impacts form COVID-19 to help shape the national recovery.

It would seek to share any best practice with the membership and take a Live Lab demonstrator approach to testing new ways and means of working – a more agile system for testing innovation that trials new ideas and learns from any failure as well as shares any success. 

Areas of focus:

ADEPT outlined a number of issues that need to be considered and developed through the task force including:

• What are the key principles we need government to consider in the first instance? 
• How do we make sure climate change (net zero carbon and resilience) and the clean growth agenda are at the heart of our recovery plans?
• There has been significant behavioural change in the past two months – how do we take advantage of the ‘honeymoon period’ to permanently change behaviours for the better?
• What does this mean for future infrastructure projects and housing and access to green space?
• What does home working mean for the future of our places, particularly high streets but also out of town business parks?
• What is the role of digital infrastructure?
• How do we reassure the public and help to build confidence that it is safe to go back to town centres and work-places?

ADEPT said this work would require additional resource to drive it forward. We will need to consider reaching out to Corporate Partners and other consultancies to provide free support. Frequency of meetings:

Professional services firm, KPMG, has appointed Dr Sarah Owen-Vandersluis as its UK head of future mobility and Edwin Kemp as UK head of automotive strategy, with immediate effect.

Before KPMG, Dr Owen-Vandersluis worked at Ford in the US and UK and succeeds Charlie Simpson, who is leaving the firm to pursue a new opportunity.

She is strategy partner within KPMG’s Infrastructure Advisory Group and previously led the firm’s UK public sector mobility practice, advising transport authorities on the future of mobility.

She has over 20 years of experience consulting with organisations on strategic options, business cases for new initiatives, diversification of income streams and development of partnerships between the public and private sector.

Her future mobility team is led by directors Ben Foulser (Government, Infrastructure, and Digital) and Eddie Ataii (Corporates, Financial Services, and Energy).

Mr Kemp is an associate director within the firm’s Mobility 2030 practice and has over 11 years of experience advising clients across a diverse range of sectors.

He has specialised in the financial, business model and operating model implications of future mobility, mainly in the automotive, energy, logistics and infrastructure sectors.

He also focuses on growth strategy, deal strategy and enterprise-wide strategy. In his new role, KPMG said he would work with both Sarah and Andrew Burn, who leads the Automotive practice for KPMG in the UK.

Richard Threlfall, partner and global head of infrastructure at KPMG, commented: ‘With Sarah’s experience, track record and vision, I have no doubt that she is the right person for the job. She’s been extensively involved in developing relationships between the public and private sectors and advising clients on the future of mobility. Her enthusiasm and dedication to both our people and clients is second to none.

‘Edwin is a passionate automotive and mobility expert, with a relentless focus on helping his clients obtain favourable outcomes. With his expertise and knowledge of both the automotive sector and the way in which the future of mobility impacts – from energy to infrastructure, his years of experience and network will prove invaluable to our growing client base.’

Dr Owen-Vandersluis said: ‘The future of mobility is fundamentally changing the way goods and people move and breaking down sector barriers to drive new forms of collaboration. This change is being accelerated as technology evolves and government’s decarbonisation targets draw closer. If anything, we believe that COVID-19 will accelerate previous trends towards digitisation, customer-centricity and zero-carbon.’

Mr Kemp added: ‘The issues and challenges surrounding the automotive industry and future mobility more broadly are evolving both in the UK and globally. I’m looking forward to helping clients understand these challenges and strategically navigate them to keep pace with the rate of change we’re seeing.’

Intelligent kerbside and smart parking provider, AppyWay, has welcomed former Cisco UK and Ireland CEO, Phil Smith CBE, to its board as non-executive chairman.

Mr Smith is currently IQE PLC chairman and chair and non-executive director at the Digital Skills Partnership.

He is also a former chair at InnovateUK and The Tech Partnership, making him a good fit to lead AppyWay’s board and accelerate the company’s sustainable mobility vision within the kerbside and parking management industry.

Dan Hubert, founder and CEO of AppyWay, said: ‘Phil has an impressive and illustrious background and I’m thrilled to add his expertise and experience to our board. His enthusiasm for our vision combined with his impressive understanding of the market have already proved highly valuable to the company in several ways. I’m looking forward to working more closely with Phil as we look to supercharge our next phase of growth.’

Mr Smith has received many accolades including Orange Business Leader of the Year, member of the Wired 100 and listed in the 50 Kindest Leaders in 2018. He was awarded a CBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to technology, business, and skills.

He said: ‘I am delighted to be joining Dan and the AppyWay team. The opportunity to revolutionise the way we understand, use and optimise our transport infrastructure around the world is exciting. AppyWay have already demonstrated their clear understanding of the key issues, challenges and opportunities with leading technologies and deep client engagement.’

Phil Smith’s appointment follows recent AppyWay board additions; Amazon veteran Ron Kornfeld, and John Fogelin, AppyWay’s resident CTO and chief security officer.

WJ has started working with authorities on marking more cycle lanes and social distancing footway demarcations, in line with the emergency measures the Department for Transport has called for.

Following a £250m commitment from government to support urgently needed extra cycling and walking space, WJ is advising councils on temporary markings including using tape, self-adhesive studs and their innovative Applied Media floor signage.

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The Applied Media floor graphic system has been approved for use by Transport for London on the London Underground for some time.

It has also been used for London Pride rainbow crossings and very recently used for NHS Nightingale Hospital bus shuttle and social distancing measures on the Docklands Light Railway.

Leading markings company WJ has extensive experience in temporary markings, most notably providing all the markings for the London 2012 Olympic Route Network.

It is also a lead provider for Highways England across the strategic road network.

Martin Webb WJ Group Operational Director said: ‘We are in a strong position to provide the resources, products and expertise to rapidly deliver temporary, permanent and specialist markings to help support these active transport schemes.’

With highways frontline work, classified as essential by government, the WJ Group has been working to Public Health England and Construction Leadership Council guidelines to remain operational throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

The Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA) has written to transport secretary Grant Shapps calling for all marking companies working on the public road network to be National Highways Sector Scheme #7 (NHSS#7) certified by a UKAS accredited body.

This would bring standards on the local network up to the same level as the strategic road network managed by Highways England, where NHSS#7 is mandatory for marking companies.

Companies operating to this standard together with BS EN ISO 9001 are proven to prioritise the health and safety of their workforce, focus on quality, maintain a properly trained and competent workforce, meet the industry benchmark for standards and provide a basis for continuous improvement.

All NHSS #7 accredited contractor employees have also achieved or are undertaking the NVQ Level 2 in pavement marking, have demonstrated their competency and skill in the role, and undertake refresher training every four years.

Stu McInroy, RSMA CEO said: ‘It is anomalous that road marking contractors working on the strategic road network and the majority of the TfL network must be NHSS #7 accredited, and thus able to demonstrate through audit the required standard of professionalism and safety, but no similar requirement exists across the local authority road network.

‘Road marking operatives are often employed on live sites with moving traffic and work with 200C molten material and the health and safety of the workforce is a priority for the RSMA. It is for this reason that the RSMA insists that its contracting members are certified to NHSS #7 and BS EN ISO 9001 by a UKAS accredited body.

‘It is essential that road marking operatives are appropriately protected, trained and qualified, that works are completed properly and professionally, that the safety of the road user is maintained and the health and safety of the workforce employed on our roads remains paramount. It is for that reason that I have today written to the secretary of state the urge him to mandate that NHSS #7 certification of road marking contractors becomes a requirement for all road marking activity undertaken on all public roads.’

The letter goes on to say that when not employing NHSS#7 accredited contractors, local authorities have in the past ‘failed to protect themselves against prosecution for employing a contractor who has engaged in dangerous practices’.

Mr McInroy adds that there is a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity for transformative change as a result of the pandemic and it is essential those delivering it ‘are appropriately trained and qualified’.

Companies audited by UKAS accredited bodies and certified as operating to the NHSS #7 together with BS EN ISO 9001:

• Prioritise the Health & Safety of their workforce.
• Focus on quality as an objective.
• Reduce costs for client and contractor.
• Maintain a properly trained and competent workforce.
• Meet the industry benchmark for standards.
• Provide a basis for continuous improvement.
• Ensure that all processes are planned.
• Promote confidence in quality management through robust transparent systems.
• Possess appropriate technical knowledge and experience across a fully trained workforce.

The Government has published guidance for employers and staff on how to get back to work safely in construction and outside sites.

It recommends a range of actions outlined in full below, including using back-to-back working and keeping people in fixed teams.

The news comes after the Highways Sector Council published its own sector-specific guidelines during the lockdown, as the roads industry was asked to maintain a business as usual approach as much as possible throughout the crisis.

Another measure already announced by ministers is to allow construction sites to stay open until 9pm in residential areas.

The Government said that developers should expect their local planning authority to grant temporary changes to construction working hours until 9pm or later, six days a week, wherever possible.

This applies to England only and any temporary changes to construction working hours should not extend beyond 13th May 2021.

Risk management

Employers must carry out risk assessment to address the risks of COVID-19, using the government guidance to inform decisions and control measures.

If you have fewer than five workers, or are self-employed, you don’t have to write anything down as part of your risk assessment.

There are interactive tools available to support the process from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at https://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/assessment.htm.

The guidance warns: ‘Where the enforcing authority, such as the HSE [Health and Safety Executive] or your local authority, identifies employers who are not taking action to comply with the relevant public health legislation and guidance to control public health risks, they will consider taking a range of actions to improve control of workplace risks.’

This would cover employers not taking appropriate action to socially distance, where possible. The actions the HSE can take include the provision of specific advice to employers through to issuing enforcement notices to help secure improvements.

Employers have a duty to reduce workplace risk to the lowest reasonably practicable level by taking preventative measures.

The guidance makes the following headline recommendations:

• In every workplace, increasing the frequency of handwashing and surface cleaning.
• Businesses and workplaces should make every reasonable effort to enable working from home as a first option. Where working from home is not possible, workplaces should make every reasonable effort to comply with the social distancing guidelines set out by the government (keeping people 2m apart wherever possible).
• Where the social distancing guidelines cannot be followed in full, in relation to a particular activity, businesses should consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate, and if so, take all the mitigating actions possible to reduce the risk of transmission between their staff.

Further mitigating actions include:

• Increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning.
• Keeping the activity time involved as short as possible.
• Using screens or barriers to separate people from each other.
• Using back-to-back or side-to-side working (rather than face-to-face) whenever possible.
• Reducing the number of people each person has contact with by using ‘fixed teams or partnering’ (so each person works with only a few others).
• Finally, if people must work face-to-face for a sustained period with more than a small group of fixed partners, then you will need to assess whether the activity can safely go ahead. No one is obliged to work in an unsafe work environment.
• In your assessment you should have particular regard to whether the people doing the work are especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

The Government has published the highway maintenance allocations for each highway authority in England for 2020/2021.

The funding is based on a formula using 2019 road length data provided by each local authority and takes into account the number of highways assets such as bridges and lighting columns they are each responsible for.

A useful webpage on the government’s website outlines the many different existing and previous funding streams including the local highways maintenance – needs element funding – equivalent to £725m in 2020/21.

This existing needs-based formula totals £4.7bn over the 6-year funding period between 2015/16 and 2020/21. In 2020/21, the £725m has been reduced to £674m, as the needs element funding is not applicable to local authorities who have opted to receive their retained business rates instead.

Funding for England in 2020/21 includes the £500m Pothole Fund annual share, the £100m Challenge Fund annual share, and the £50m Pothole Action Fund annual share.

The Government has also recently allocated a multi-billion pound package for maintenance and active travel under its £5bn bus and cycling fund announced in February.

Outside of the needs based formula big winners include Kent, Lincolnshire, Devon, Cornwall, Norfolk, Esses, North Yorkshire and Cumbria who won extra Challenge and Pothole Fund support.

The full list of local authority funding allocations can be found here:

Breaking it down by region:

• over £108m to the South East, in addition to the just under £120m of block formula funding and nearly £27m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £72m to the East Midlands, in addition to the £83m of block formula funding and £17m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £74m to the West Midlands, in addition to the £79m of block formula funding and £16m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• over £84 million to the North West, in addition to the £96.3m of block formula funding and £20m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £36m to the North East, in addition to the £41.3m of block formula funding and £8m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £72m to Yorkshire and Humber, in addition to the £75.3m of block formula funding and £15m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £88m to the East of England, in addition to the £99.3m of block formula funding and £20m of incentive element funding in 2020/21
• £112m to the South West, in addition to the £130.5 m of block formula funding and £27m of incentive element funding in 2020/21