Dorset Council’s Highways team were delighted to have their work recognised on a national scale this month when they won the Best Partnership Award at the Highways Awards.
The award is for their collaboration with Heidelberg Materials (previously Hanson), with whom the Council have been working since 2009. Through this private/public sector partnership, the Highways team has privileged access to the latest ideas and technology so they can trial and introduce new ways of working.
Beginning in 2003, the Dorset Highways Strategic Partnership has brought not only several benefits to the Council and road users, but also innovation to the highways industry as this partnership is the first private/public partnership of its kind in the UK.
Together, Dorset Council and Heidelberg Materials have worked according to the “One Team” ethos. They work to a pre-agreed set of behaviours and to the common goal of ensuring “a high quality, value for money service…at the disposal of Dorset Council and all our customers”.
One of the reasons for the success of the partnership has been the appointment of a Heidelberg Materials Partnership Manager, who works within the Council’s offices and acts as the first point of contact for all activities. This has enabled effective communication and streamlined decision-making, leading to improved efficiency and reduced costs.
Close working allows both Heidelberg Materials and Dorset Council to share best practices and improve the overall quality of the work, as well as offering financial benefits back to the Council.
The partnership has delivered many benefits to the Council, including:
- Time: 99% of schemes started on time
- Quality: Less than 1% remedial surfacing, 99% of material laid within specification
- Safety: 13 consecutive years with zero injury, disease or dangerous occurrence incidents
- Carbon: 126 tonnes of CO2 saved through new materials selection since 2017
- Circular economy: 35,000 tonnes of recycled planings generated since 2017, including 7,000 tonnes of reclaimed asphalt pavement put back into base and binder courses.
Due to the success of the partnership, satisfaction figures are extremely high both with the local public (77% positive), and with the Council, who have renewed the arrangements for a third term.
The partnership model has now paved the way for a new and improved way of working for Dorset Council and will continue to offer and improve for years to come.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
“From being one of the first councils to make asphalt for our roads at a lower temperature, to harnessing Heidelberg’s latest construction methods when building our new principal street in Gillingham, we are leading the way when it comes to partnership working and reducing the carbon impact of highways work.
“This puts Dorset at the forefront of innovation in the UK and enables us to be more efficient, reduce our environmental impact and save money.
“This award is an amazing achievement against very tough competition, and a great endorsement of how well we do things at Dorset Council. I want to thank the Highways team and our colleagues at Heidelberg for their continued hard work keeping Dorset residents moving.”
Sheep Market hill Parking ; this has nothing to do with the above but i needed to point out how annoyed i’am with your parking charges in this area , 2 months ago i had a parking ticket , my fault because i didn’t have the money to get my ticket , this week i parked in the same place there and the price has gone up yet again !!!! £1.50 for an hours parking ,yee gods , !!! the shops around here must be feeling the effect ?? another concern was because i didn’t have the exact money i had to put in 2 £’s with no change . for a 5 minute shop , totally out of order Blandford Council , get this sorted otherwise you’ll see more shop closeuers .Grrrrrrr