M1 junction 19 improvement scheme

Skanska and VGC on M1 jn19 site
Skanska
£3 million
Catthorpe, Leicestershire
Jan 2014
Dec 2016

VGC worked with main contractor Skanska throughout this £190 million major upgrade contract.

VGC supplied all categories of labour, including supervisors, ground workers, pipelayers, kerb layers, gangers, traffic marshals and slinger signallers as part of a five-year framework contract. These were local people with the benefits of reduced commuting and support for neighbourhood businesses so that, as well as relieving substantial congestion in the area, the project is benefitting local communities.

Skanska’s ‘Injury Free Environment’ initiative dovetails neatly with VGC’s Be Safe by Choice behaviour-based safety programme.

  • VGC workers Derrick Ashley and William Benjamin won awards for promoting a safe working area for their colleagues.
  • In December 2015, Gurwinder Singh won an award for being helpful and responsive, and Corey Giles won an award for doing an exemplary job.
  • The VGC team won a subcontractor HSE award for meeting a range of health and safety key performance indicators.

Skanska’s works manager praised VGC’s contract supervisor John Daly, and commented:

the VGC team has shown a high level of commitment to the project to ensure that we are supplied with a highly skilled, competent and, above all, safe workforce.

About the project

The Highways Agency engaged Skanska on the project to improve safety and cut journey times and separate local traffic from long-distance traffic. Over 142,000 vehicles pass through the intersection of the M1, M6 and A14 every day. The old junction caused congestion, with long queues of traffic, particularly at peak periods, and frequent accidents. Local traffic using the motorway added to the congestion. In addition, it was difficult for pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders to cross the motorway.

The scope of works included the construction of direct free-flow links and the refurbishment of three local roads. The project involved 22 traffic management phases, with contraflows on the M1 and M6 to enable the construction of two of the new bridges.

Mrs H, a member of the public, emailed in to the project:

“When I have driven down the M6 to go either south on the M1 or east along the A14 I have more often than not seen the workforce working hard in all weathers. Their job cannot be easy in some of the awful weather conditions we are faced with. Please pass on my thanks to all concerned.

“This project has improved the interchange beyond belief.”

David Cameron visiting the site
Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site in November 2014