SYSTRA’s £20m Levelling Up Fund Success

SYSTRA’s £20m Levelling Up Fund Success

SYSTRA’s Business Case & Appraisal Team, alongside Cushman & Wakefield, supported Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council in developing its latest Levelling Up Fund bid submission, which has now been awarded £20m in funding as part of the latest round of major Government investment in local communities across the UK.

The Levelling Up Fund forms an integral part of the UK Government’s efforts to improve local infrastructure and cultural/heritage assets, underpinned by £2.1bn of second round funding for schemes across the UK. To secure funding, local authorities were required to submit bids outlining improvements that would support levelling up priorities within their communities, according to criteria set out by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

SYSTRA assisted several local authorities in the production of bold and ambitious bids for schemes which would help to improve local accessibility and public realm, increase the attractiveness of sustainable travel, and better link key destinations within local communities via sustainable modes.
In the case of Redcar & Cleveland, SYSTRA worked with Cushman & Wakefield on the local Council’s bid to create a strategic cycle route linking South Bank with Guisborough via Nunthorpe, as well as a High Street and Beckside walkway regeneration scheme in Guisborough town centre, by way of economic appraisal and design support/auditing.

With a third round of submissions to the Levelling Up Fund likely still to come and around £1bn worth of funding left to be distributed, SYSTRA are now looking forward to supporting clients in refining and resubmitting any bids which were unsuccessful this time around (over 400 bids lost out in this round of funding), as well as supporting Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council in achieving their proposed vision.

SYSTRA appoints Romain Pison as Director of Decarbonisation

Romain Pison joins SYSTRA as Director of Decarbonisation and will consolidate and expand SYSTRA’s existing comprehensive offer supporting public and private sector clients in achieving their Net Zero ambitions. Romain is an award-winning transport director with 25 years of experience designing, leading, and implementing complex, multi-million-pound transport projects and green policies across the world. Romain is leading SYSTRA’s market growth in ESG consulting and advisory services, focusing on infrastructure, supply chain, and nature-based solutions. He joins SYSTRA from sustainability software company Wiia which he cofounded in 2020 and was Green Infrastructure specialist with the World Bank from 2013.

Sébastien Dupont, Managing Director Consultancy, SYSTRA, said, “We are delighted to welcome Romain to our growing team in the UK & Ireland. As well as the passion he brings to the challenges of creating a liveable net zero world, Romain also brings an excellent track record in building strong public-private partnerships and identifying key opportunities for digital transformation that will complement our already strong decarbonisation service offer.”

Sébastien Dupont appointed as Managing Director of Consultancy

SYSTRA Ltd is delighted to announce the appointment of Sébastien Dupont as Managing Director for Consultancy (UK-IRL). Sébastien joined SYSTRA in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer for Latin America based in Såo Paulo, Brazil before moving to London in 2019 as International Chief Financial Officer, responsible for UK, Nordics, South America and North & Western Africa. He is an accomplished operations and financial leader having worked for 20-years in the transport engineering and automotive sectors.

Sébastien led the integration of TSP Projects that was acquired in 2019, doubling the size of the SYSTRA Ltd’s Transport and Infrastructure business. As Managing Director for Consultancy, Sébastien will support the sustainable growth of the business, raising the profile of its many thought-leading technical and digital experts.

Sébastien Dupont, Managing Director Consultancy said, “Moving to the UK has been one of the highlights of my career so far. After working with a vast network of international entities across multiple continents, I am now delighted to shift my focus to the UK & Ireland market in order to support our clients delivering on decarbonisation and sustainability. It is my absolute pleasure to lead SYSTRA’s consultancy team which has a rich and diverse pedigree of delivering fascinating work, thanks to its deep expertise and relentless commitment to each of our customer’s success.”

Ebbw Vale Frequency Enhancement rail project

SYSTRA has been appointed as design partner with contractor AmcoGiffen to deliver a seven-mile loop reinstating the old twin-track Welsh Ebbw Vale line from Crosskeys in the south to Llanhilleth in the north.

The overall construction cost will be over £20m with the 12-month design contract worth £2m for SYSTRA, led by our Senior PM David Camacho. SYSTRA ’s scope is multi-disciplinary incorporating civil and structural engineering, geotechnical, environmental and architectural interventions.

The rail improvements are part of a £70m investment, funded by Blaenau Gwent Council, and supported by the Welsh Government. The project will deliver new track enabling an hourly service between Ebbw Vale Town and Newport. New platforms that will be installed at Llanhilleth and Newbridge making the stations fully accessible for the first time.

The Ebbw Vale improvements also include an underbridge replacement, creation of new bridge walkways to five separate structures as well as enhancing multiple embankments, cuttings and retaining structures along the route.

James Price, Transport for Wales Chief Executive, said: “This substantial investment from the Welsh Government will bring significant benefits for people living in Ebbw Vale and the surrounding communities.”

*Image shows Llanhilleth Station, looking towards Ebbw Vale town (North).

A big leap forward for the Ebbw Vale Rail Upgrade

The £70m Ebbw Vale rail upgrade funded by Blaenau Gwent Country Borough Council via a loan from the Welsh Government, the investment will allow a new hourly passenger service between Ebbw Vale Town and Newport. The existing line has to be closed periodically throughout the next year in order to make the major improvements and closure dates have been published on the Network Rail website.

Our ‘One team’ approach ensured the success of the blockade pulling together the contracting teams supported by Network Rail’s Construction Services team who removed and relayed the track. A great example of project delivery leading up to the new Control Period.

AmcoGiffen’s Operations Director for Wales and Borders, Andy Crowley said, “Our efforts at Ebbw Vale are a fantastic example of our ‘one team’ approach in action, as we work closely with our client Network Rail and Supply Chain Partners Siemens, SYSTRA and Network Rail Construction Services to deliver the multitude of works. In line with the new CP7 strategy, we’ve reviewed our working practices to be collaborative and holistic in approach. This has brought an increased level of transparency and engagement to our intelligent client offering and supplier approach, allowing all the different teams to come together in a seamless, cohesive manner. Throughout this work, the safety of our 120-strong team was paramount, and I’m happy to report that this paid off in zero reported incidents.”

Mike Muldoon joins SYSTRA Ltd as Business Development Director

Mike Muldoon joins SYSTRA Ltd as Business Development Director for UK & Ireland and as member of the Executive Board. Mike brings over 30 years of transport industry experience serving clients and customers around the world. Mike began his career in rail rolling stock before moving into project delivery. In 2010 he joined Alstom UK & Ireland as Tenders Director before becoming Head of Business Development in 2017. Latterly he has led Alstom’s UK focus on the development, promotion and application of emerging decarbonisation technologies and the resulting closer integration of the transport and energy sectors.

SYSTRA‘s CEO, Nick Salt said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Mike to our Executive Board for UK and Ireland, he brings a wealth of experience driving growth in new and emerging sectors. SYSTRA has developed a strong position in the UK & Ireland, growing our core consultancy and engineering capability to respond to the needs of the transportation and infrastructure markets.”

SYSTRA cements growth in the North with Manchester office move

SYSTRA’s growing Manchester team are working on projects across the business from transport planning and behavioural change to infrastructure engineering and specialist climate and environmental services. The new office space provides a fantastic working space for SYSTRA colleagues, and supports its growth ambition in the North of England.

The layout of the new 5,880 sq ft modern office space has been shaped by the requirements of staff, and is largely open plan with plenty creative space to support hybrid working and offers much needed facilities for staff cycling to work.

Rossendale Connectivity Business Case

Rawtenstall is a town in Lancashire located on the River Irwell, 20 miles north of Manchester. The Borough of Rossendale borders Greater Manchester and the boroughs of Bolton, Bury and Rochdale.

The strategic business case reviewed highway, bus and rail options. Several shortlisted rail options were developed in greater detail by our multi-disciplinary team of transport planners, economists, civil and signalling engineers and train operation experts, to develop options that allowed a regular all-day service to work alongside an existing heritage railway, as well as exploring alternative options such as enhanced bus frequencies.

For rail, one of the key requirements was the retention of the heritage railway which meant adhering to heritage railway’s stringent regulations to allow trains to operate at higher speeds. The rail option addressed the heritage objectives and went further by incorporating the town of Heywood, near Rochdale which has similar connectivity needs.

The Business Case concluded that the most appropriate option was to operate a service from Rawtenstall to Manchester via Heywood. This would use the full length of an existing heritage railway which would continue to operate.

SYSTRA appoints Jorgen Pedersen as Director of Transport Technology

Jorgen Pedersen joins SYSTRA as Director for Transport Technology and will lead and develop the business offer on new and emerging technologies which are set to disrupt the future of mobility. Jorgen brings 30-years experience of delivering transport technology projects throughout the world. Jorgen joined from New York based transport organisation MAS, where he was VP, Transit Integrations.

SYSTRA‘s MD Strategy & Consultancy, Craig Scott said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Jorgen, he brings a wealth of expertise in emerging technologies which will help transport organisations in the UK and globally meet and go beyond our increasingly urgent collective net zero responsibility. We are very much looking forward to working with Jorgen, his appointment demonstrates our commitment to growing a sophisticated service offer.”

SYSTRA enhances land use modelling capability with DELTA acquisition

The acquisition of the DELTA modelling tool, along with the supporting intellectual property, enables SYSTRA to offer a full range of modelling, forecasting and assessment consultancy advice on land use and transport system changes.

Land use modelling gives unique insight to the analysis and appraisal of development proposals and planning policies, enabling impacts to be understood on a geospatial basis and robustly quantified, in terms of household and employment levels or economic benefits. When coupled with transport models, the complex land use and transport interactions can be modelled to enhance understanding of a proposal’s impact and benefit, whether at a local, regional or national scale.

SYSTRA will continue to develop the DELTA software and has the technical capability to offer the consultancy services previously offered by DSC.