Manchester waste PFI deal to be done by end of month

Europe’s largest waste management contract, the £3.3bn Greater Manchester waste PFI, will be finalised by the end of the month, an insider on the project has claimed.

The source said the banks involved in the 25 year contract were close to agreeing the struc­ture of the finance.

A joint venture between infrastructure investor John Laing and waste contractor Viridor was originally named as preferred bidder by client Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) in January 2007.

But the complexity of the deal and increasingly difficult lending conditions caused by the credit crisis have meant that every deadline for the project has so far been issed. Last December GMWDA predicted that the deal would be wrapped up by Christmas 2008 (NCE 4 December 2008).

I think that many are waiting anxiously to see these signings go through. The industry needs this vital re-assurance that the banks are still able to put together a deal of this size, are lending, and that the credit crunch has done its worst… (The Waster)

This years edition provides the following list of the top twenty waste contractors, which in this context means a ranking of the top construction contractors in the landfill development field. These companies normally also carry out landfill capping/restoration projects and many also work in building recycling facilities and composting plants.

1. Ascot Environmental
2. J N Bentley
3. Edmund Nuttall
4. Fitzpatrick Contractors
5. Balfour Beatty
6. Norwest Hoist Civil Engineering Division
7. North Midland Construction
8. J Breheny Contractors
9. Fox Owmby
10. Amalgamated Construction Company
11. Dean and Dyball
12. Raymond Brown Construction
13. Alun Griffiths Contractors
14. Forkers
15 UCS Civils
16 Wrenco Contractors
17. Highland Quality Construction
18. Interserve Project Services
19. Barhale Construction
20. Buckingham Croup Contracting

Although the top listed players are well known and respected within the waste industry they are not household names outside the waste industry, and the really large national contractors are under-represented with only Balfour Beatty present.

This is a very specialist area of work and has the large value contracts have the past been dominated by landfill development and restoration works, with some work also in waste facility construction.

The split of the value of the work will soon reverse with increasing demand for waste treatment and processing facilities rising fast to eventually exceed landfill type projects. This will happen as the largest of the UK’s planned PFI integrated waste management contracts to move into the construction cycle and the start of their operational contract periods. The UK government has plans to pump a lot of money into this sector, to have the necessary effect on the redirection of waste away from landfills in a big way, over the next few years.

Archive information etc on the top contractors of past years is available at the Landfill Site Top Twenty Contractors.