Bootle-based civils contractor Dowhigh has been appointed by Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council to deliver a £54m highways and footways maintenance contract covering work across the borough.
The SME was selected following an open procurement procedure conducted under the Procurement Act 2023. Five tenders were submitted, with two bidders progressing to the final evaluation stage. Huyton Asphalt Civils was the other finalist.
The contract is due to begin on 18 December 2026 and run for five years until 17 December 2031. Sefton can extend the agreement by up to three further 12-month periods, potentially taking the contract through to December 2034. Any extensions will be subject to Dowhigh meeting performance targets measured through key performance indicators.
The council has not committed to a minimum volume of work during the contract. Its total potential value is £64.8m including VAT over the maximum eight-year term.
Work will be issued through individual task orders covering sites across Sefton. The scope includes reactive footway repairs using a range of materials, including bituminous surfacing, precast concrete flags, Southport tiles, blockwork, kerbs and edgings.
Dowhigh will also undertake carriageway repairs and patching, together with road-marking reinstatement and maintenance of road restraint systems. The contractor’s responsibilities will extend to highway trial pits and utility searches, as well as maintenance of three pumps and their associated systems.
An out-of-hours emergency call-out service will form part of the contract. Dowhigh’s teams will be required to attend sites within one hour of being contacted, providing a rapid response capability for highway defects and other urgent maintenance requirements.
The contract also provides for the contractor to supply operatives, vehicles and plant for winter gritting and snow-clearance operations when extreme weather affects the borough’s highway network.
Drainage work represents another element of the agreement. Sefton can instruct Dowhigh to repair or renew highway drainage infrastructure, including culverts, ditches, pipework, manholes, chambers, catchpits, outfalls and gullies.
Further work available through task orders includes footway reconstruction, carriageway resurfacing and full carriageway reconstruction. The council can also commission CCTV drainage surveys and testing of highway materials.
The breadth of the specification means the contract will cover both routine reactive maintenance and more substantial interventions to roads, footways and associated infrastructure. Rather than guaranteeing a defined programme of projects, Sefton will use individual task orders to instruct work according to the condition and operational requirements of its highway network over the life of the agreement.
For Dowhigh, the contract provides a long-term maintenance role within its home borough, with delivery ranging from rapid-response repairs and winter operations to drainage works, resurfacing and reconstruction. The potential eight-year term will depend on performance against the council’s contractual requirements, with the initial five-year period scheduled to start in December 2026.
