Birse Civils wins £16m Selly Oak relief road contract

Jun 24 2009 by Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post

A £16 million contract has been awarded to carry out construction work on a key Birmingham road.

The City Council said up to 160 construction jobs would be created after it chose civil engineering firm Birse Civils to carry out the second phase of work on Selly Oak New Road.

The scheme is seen as crucial to development plans for Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the University of Birmingham and a new Sainsbury’s superstore and new mixed-use development on the old Birmingham Battery site.

Coun Len Gregory (Con Billesley), cabinet member for Transportation and Street Services, said: “We have worked with developers, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust, Advantage West Midlands and central government to put a funding package in place to enable this phase of the road to move to the construction stage. The road will provide access to the new £545 million Queen Elizabeth hospital and the Birmingham Battery site development and will stimulate the regeneration of the Selly Oak area and south-west Birmingham.”

The 900-yard road will connect with the recently completed Selly Oak New Road Phase 1A, providing a new road to the north-west of Selly Oak Centre running from Bristol Road at Tesco Express to Harborne Lane.

The main feature will be two new 230ft-long bridges to carry the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway and the Birmingham & Worcester Canal over the new road. Work will begin this summer and are scheduled to finish in spring 2011, about six months ahead of the opening of the final section of the new single-site hospital where the Queen Elizabeth Hospital now stands.

The University of Birmingham plans to develop new teaching and research facilities within the campus and student accommodation on its adjacent sites in the Dale Road area.