Contract award

Skanska signs 20 million pound TfL cutting stabilisation contract

By Staff Writer  |  04-09-2026

Transport for London has signed a contract with Skanska Construction UK Limited to design, supply and install remedial works to the railway cuttings between North Acton and Hanger Lane. The contract details notice, published at 11:29am on 4 September 2026, records a value of 20,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax, 24,000,000 pounds gross, a signing date of 19 August 2026 and a contract period running from that date to 31 March 2028.

The notice describes the work in one sentence:

Design, supply and install remedial works to the cuttings between North Acton and Hanger Lane.

Transport for London, contract details notice

The tender notice that opened the competition, published on 9 May 2025, set out what the works are for. Transport for London had identified that cuttings CTS 7 and CTS 8 between North Acton and Hanger Lane, with a combined length of approximately 1,100 metres, required remedial works to stabilise the cutting. The assets were described as susceptible to pore pressure levels, which the notice explained as the pressure of groundwater in the soil or rock, and to displacements, and were considered a high risk. The notice added that soil pore pressure build up had become more common because of the increased number of prolonged rainfall events over recent years, leaving the asset at greater risk of failure.

A design from 2017, paused and then revived

The same tender notice recorded that in 2017 TfL Engineering produced a detailed design for remediating the asset, consisting of discrete bored piles, discrete H-piles, a king post wall, asset drainage and re-grading. After the detailed design was completed, the business decision was to pause the project because of funding constraints. The notice stated that the project had been reinitiated because of the criticality of the asset and the continued deterioration of the cutting.

The contract as signed carries an option, described on the notice as an option to implement the detailed design for the cutting remedial works between North Acton and Hanger Lane, including any associated access arrangements or third party works to enable the delivery. The notice does not say whether the option has been exercised, and it does not say what part of the 20,000,000 pound value is attributable to it.

The tender notice estimated a contract running from 2 February 2026 to 30 March 2029. The signed contract runs from 19 August 2026 to 31 March 2028, a year shorter at the end. The notices do not explain the change.

What the notice records

The procurement was a competitive flexible procedure under the Procurement Act 2023, run as a utilities procurement. The main procurement category is works and the contract is above threshold. The tender deadline was 11:45pm on 29 July 2025, and the tender notice carried the same estimate of 20,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax and 24,000,000 pounds gross that now appears as the contract value. The works are classified under engineering works and construction works, railway embankment construction work and underground railway works, with delivery in London.

Seven key performance indicators are recorded against the contract: maintaining the programme; accuracy of the supplier's applications for payment; effective use of access and productive working; work on site being right first time, which the notice defines as not needing to be reworked because of the quality of the workmanship; acceptable and timely submission of contractor assurance documentation; behaving in a collaborative manner; and working in accordance with the approved SSoW, which is how the notice abbreviates the safe system of work. Eleven signed contract documents are attached to the notice. The conflicts of interest assessment is marked as not published.

The notice does not record the number of tenders received, the form of contract used, the site programme or the sequence in which the piling, drainage and re-grading elements will be delivered. It names no individual at either party and carries no statement from the supplier.