Contract award
Sefton selects Dowhigh for 80m pound carriageway resurfacing contract
By Staff Writer | 13 October 2026
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council has selected Dowhigh Limited for an eight year highways term maintenance contract covering carriageway resurfacing across the borough, with an award value of 80,000,000 pounds excluding VAT.
The contract award notice was published on Find a Tender on 12 October 2026. It cites the Procurement Act 2023 as its legal basis and records an open procedure. The award is shown as pending, with a standstill period ending at 23:59 on 21 October 2026, and the notice gives 2 November 2026 as the expected date for signature of the contract. The value including VAT is recorded as 96,000,000 pounds.
What the contract covers
The contract is HM1, Carriageway Resurfacing, within the council's highways term maintenance arrangements. The notice states that the work will take place at separate sites described in task orders, located anywhere within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. It lists the anticipated types of work as carriageway resurfacing; cold planing, with the reuse, recycling and disposal of arisings; the adjustment and replacement of utility company chamber covers and frames; and general footway and carriageway works, including patching, repair, reconstruction and refurbishment.
The scope also covers the reinstatement and replacement of road markings and road studs; drainage improvements, including road gully and pipework replacement; confined space entry; the implementation and monitoring of traffic management and compliance with the noticing requirements of the Traffic Management Act; utility searches as required; and site investigations, including drainage CCTV investigations and road coring. The contractor is to run public information exercises and give advance notice of works, including leafleting and press notices agreed with the service manager. The services include the design of proprietary materials, products or methods where they are needed to provide the services.
Term, extensions and the tender
The notice describes an eight year contract made up of an initial five year period followed by up to three one year extensions. The extensions may be taken individually or as a block and depend on contract performance. The contract period shown runs from 18 December 2026 to 17 December 2031, with a maximum extent to 17 December 2034. The council will use performance indicators to monitor the contractor throughout the contract, and that performance will decide whether an extension is offered at the end of the first five years.
Options are recorded for any works related to the scope of the contract that are unforeseen or arise from changes in legislation or new methods within the sector. The council states that taking part in the tender gives the successful contractor no guarantee of any given volume of work over the life of the contract. It says it was open to considering new methods of delivery, including partnerships between suppliers, and that it did not run preliminary market engagement because it judged this unnecessary for the nature and scope of the procurement.
Three bids were received for the lot and two reached the final stage, both from small and medium sized enterprises. The other final stage bidder is also based in Liverpool. No final stage bid came from a voluntary, community or social enterprise.
Dowhigh Limited is registered at Park Lane West, Liverpool, and is recorded in the notice as a small or medium sized enterprise. The buyer is Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council of Bootle Town Hall. The notice is registered on Find a Tender as 096120-2026 under the council's reference DN808765, and the works are classified as construction, foundation and surface works for highways and roads.