Connecting Leeds Autumn / Winter 2019 Newsletter

Gary Bartlett

Chief Officer for Highways & Transportation Leeds City Council “Hello and welcome to the first edition of our Connecting Leeds newsletter. Our seasonal newsletter is designed to keep you informed and up to date with the progress of any upcoming or ongoing schemes in the city centre and beyond.

moved from consultation into delivery on a number of our schemes, including our biggest project to date, The Headrow works. The works on the Headrow are progressing at a good rate and we predict that they’re on track to finish on time.

In 2016, we started our biggest-ever transport conversation in which over 8,000 people told us what’s important to them and for Leeds.

We successfully secured £174 million from the Department for Transport and started our ambition of transforming travel across Leeds.

This would not be possible without the patience and cooperation from you. From bus drivers and bus users to pedestrians and cyclists, your ongoing support has allowed the works to run as smoothly as possible. Secondly, I would like to offer thanks to our design and delivery partners for all the hard work on the schemes so far.“

Over the past 6 months, we have successfully Working collaboratively, our development partner WSP and delivery partners Capita, BAM Nutall, John Sisk & Son and Mott MacDonald been appointed to plan and deliver Leeds City Council’s ambitious plans to transform public transport. Work is well underway on several key schemes across the city including: The Headrow Stourton park and ride Elland Road

The Headrow Civil engineering company, John Sisk & Son and it’s design partner WSP, have been appointed to carry out work on the Headrow, which includes: - Removing the central reservation - Widening footpaths - Planting trees and plants - Creating more seating areas - Installing new bus stops

- Junction improvements - Prioritisation of buses - Improved cycle provisions Work to lay new heating pipes is also taking place as part of this project and this started on 2 September, being delivered by Vital Energi.

This work has been carefully co-ordinated to run alongside work on The Headrow.

IN THIS ISSUE: - Introduction from Gary Bartlett – programme highlights - On site update - Recent consultations - We’re raising money for good causes - YorCivils – adding value with jobs and skills - Meet our apprentices What’s it like to work here…?

- What are we doing within the community?

The new pipes, which will be connected to the heat network, provide low carbon heat and hot water, reusing heat which is already being produced at Leeds Recycling and Energy Recovery (RERF) in Cross Green. The network consists of two parallel insulated pipes; one carrying hot water to homes and the other returning the water.

When completed in Autumn 2020, the scheme will provide low carbon heat and water to 1,983 council tenanted homes, of which 1,440 will benefit from heating bills being reduced.

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Staggered Working Working collaboratively, planners, project managers and engineers from Capita, Sisk, Leeds City Council and Vital Energi came up with a plan on how to maximise work but minimise disruption. This involved making detailed drawings of the Headrow and allocating each section a zone number. This also helps to avoid confusion when referring to specific work areas.

Starting at zone one, which is between Vicar Lane and New Briggate, Vital Energi have worked their way up the road and that section of pipe is now complete. The next step will be for Sisk to start work in this zone.

Using this method of working means less disruption in the long term.

Stourton Park and Ride

The first construction approved designs for the park and ride have been provided and partial discharge of planning conditions has been granted to allow topsoil strip to start in 2019. The remaining design disciplines are going through a period of technical approval to ensure accuracy before being issued for construction.

The works aim to: • Increase connectivity • Improve employment in the area Proposed small retail/business units on the park and ride site will provide potential employment opportunities • Environment - Provision of electric vehicle charging points and potential use of electric buses to encourage and promote the city’s clean air zone. Also, a landscaping strategy, planting trees / plants / hedges that will improve visual amenity, provide noise screening and have a positive impact on air quality for local residents

Elland Road Park and Ride Leeds City Council has appointed BAM Nuttall and Mott MacDonald, to design and construction of a number of bus priority corridors and park and ride schemes. The state of the art Stourton park and ride will provide up to 1,200 spaces and works include: • Creation of a new access off junction 7 exit slip road of the M621 • Widened lanes to the roundabout at junction 7 of the M621 • New bus terminal building and electric vehicle charge points will be powered through renewable energy, provided by solar panel car parking canopies funded by the European Regional Development Fund

CHARITY WORK:

Due for completion in summer 2020, the phase 3 works to Elland Road park and ride will create an additional 585 new parking spaces on the already established site. The main site activities are progressing well with the drainage stone to the park and ride now almost complete. Kerbing works are currently progressing and are 70% completed throughout the scheme. The new surface course has been completed in the Metro land area.

• Additional landscaping

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Helen McGrath (assistant package programme manager) ran the Berlin Marathon in 4:09hrs and raised £1,300 for children’s cancer charity, CLIC Sargent.

Paul Fortune (site agent at Sisk), ran the Great North Run and raised £210.00 for St Gemma’s Hospice and Leeds Involving People

Yusif Mirza (quantity surveyor at Sisk) and a group of his friends took part in the Tough Mudder and managed to raise a staggering £2,300 for the multiple sclerosis society.

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Recent Consultations

Employment and Skills

Connecting Leeds recently consulted on the area around the Corn Exchange. Proposals include:

As socially responsible organisations, we’re committed to providing work opportunities for local people in the areas we work in. This includes permanent roles, apprenticeships and work experience.

- Widening footpaths - Potential pedestrianisation of Call Lane - Priority given to buses - More cycle lanes

Working to the YorCivils framework, which is used to collect information for public sector organisations using contractors to deliver work, BAM Nuttall and John Sisk & Son have achieved the following: Key: Black text – BAM Red text – John Sisk & Son Target

Achieved to date

Educational engagement activities

10

24

Educational engagement activities

10

9

Work experience - number of opportunities

6

6

People into employment

24

18

People into employment

11

24

Apprentices (project initiated)

18

3

Apprentices (project initiated)

8

5

Project Initiated Higher Level Skills (e.g. graduate placements)

2

2

Project Initiated Higher Level Skills (e.g. graduate placements)

2

1

YORCivil2 Project Specific Outputs

The consultation was well received by the public with 75% of people feeling positively about the plans. The online consultation was completed by many members of the public and was the most commented on scheme to date.

Our public consultation at the Corn Exchange was very well attended, with members of the public and local businesses feeding back on our plans. A decision will be made on whether to progress the scheme at the Council’s Exec Board meeting in January.

Bam Nuttall celebrating 150,000 hours Our partners Bam Nuttall are celebrating working 150,000 hours on the Connecting Leeds scheme since we signed with them in 2018.

From Stourton and Elland Road park and rides to the A61, as a team, we have successfully worked with them to deliver the equivalent of 17.1 years worth of work with an accident frequency rate of 0.0.

They’ve also worked in the community delivering 24 school engagement activities and as a result spoken with 930 students, paving the way for the next generation of construction workers.

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CHARITY WORK:

Meet our apprentices CASE STUDY: Apprenticeships – a less traditional route to achieving goals

Connecting Leeds took part in the Leeds Big Sleep at the Headingley Stadium.

The team raised £2,000 which contributed towards the £49,000 raised overall.

This will be split between St. George’s Crypt, St. Gemma’s Hospice and the Leeds Rhinos Foundation.

COMMUNITY WORK:

Institution of Civil Engineering (ICE) Bridge Building - The Connecting Leeds team headed off to the Co-op Academy in Burmantofts for a fun, actionpacked week of bridge building. The children learnt valuable life skills including teamwork, leadership and how to follow instructions.

We engaged with over 200 children in the space of a week and feedback was positive with children saying they felt inspired and were considering a career in civil engineering.

A career in construction engineering might not seem like a traditional route to gaining a business administration apprenticeship, but thanks to the varied range of apprenticeships on offer, it’s providing a well needed springboard for many younger people.

Meet eighteenyear-old Catarina Neves. After completing her studies at Notre Dame College in Leeds, rather than going to university, she looked for suitable apprenticeships in the paralegal field. It was then that she discovered finding routes in to working in law wasn’t easy for someone with no practical work experience.

Catarina said: “I’d never heard of Sisk and hadn’t considered any apprenticeships in business administration. But after reading the job description and finding out a little more about Sisk, I decided to go for it.

“I attended an interview and assessment day, and was delighted they told me I’d got the job. I’ve been interested to learn about how stakeholders are categorised based on levels of influence and have enjoyed being able to attend key meetings.

Holly Hutchinson is a quantity surveying apprentice working at BAM Nuttall on the Elland Road park and ride project.

Holly said: “I came across quantity surveying by speaking to a friend and after doing some research, thought the skills needed matched some of the skills I had from my criminology degree.

I applied for the technical apprenticeship programme and joined the Leeds public transport improvement programme (LPTIP) team in October 2018.

In my everyday role I assist the lead quantity surveyor in a wide variety of tasks. Monitoring the labour, plant and materials on site each week, negotiation with subcontractors, analysing work completed by subcontractors and arranging payments are just some of the things I help out with.”

Apprenticeship programmes are now seen as a viable alternative to the more traditional graduate route, as Holly can vouch for “On the apprenticeship programme there is a clear progression route, which will allow me to become an assistant quantity surveyor in 3 years. As I learn more about quantity surveying, I see my career progressing to me being lead quantity surveyor on a project/ scheme.”

“I’m really enjoying the role and the best thing is that I get paid while I’m learning and I get a nationally recognised qualification at the end of it.”

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