Mott MacDonald appointed to Cambridgeshire metro scheme

The combined authority chose the three companies – which include Dromos Technologies and Egis – to propose technologies, innovations, designs, operational systems and commercial ideas to help the delivery of CAM.

Mott MacDonald (MM) has a 45-year association with Cambridge. It has brought together a consortium comprising MTR, Transport Design International, Maynard and Podaris to enhance its project offering.

Stephen Luke, MM Practice Leader Light Rapid Transit said: “Our team is delighted to have been selected to support the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority in developing solutions for the delivery of CAM. This truly is an ambitious and unique scheme requiring a careful balance of proven engineering, innovation and creativity.”

The awarded contracts will allow the companies to fully develop their ideas and were made following the September 2020 launch of a procurement process for design concepts. Each supplier will now go through staged reviews to ensure progress remains on track and enable the delivery of conceptual designs in March 2021. These are hoped will give a better understanding of how existing and emerging public transport modes, models and technologies could be applied to CAM. Aiming to encourage bold, envelope-pushing thinking, the design process also needs to remain deliverable and offer value for money, although it is not intended to result in a conclusive delivery solution.

One CAM Limited – the company established by the combined authority to take forward the metro project – is chaired by soft-ground tunnelling expert Lord Robert Mair who was ICE president from 2017–2018 and one of the founding directors of the Geotechnical Consulting Group.