Work back underway on the £225m Luton DART

The Programme Delivery Director at London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL) says the health and safety of the workforce on all its sites is the number one priority.

Work has restarted on the £225 Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit that will speed travellers from Luton Airport Parkway station to the terminal of London Luton airport in under four minutes.

It is being delivered by Luton Council’s airport company, LLAL, and is scheduled to open in 2021.

Work was originally paused because of the Coronavirus pandemic restrictions but restarted back up again last week.

Together with its clerks of works and health and safety advisers, airport owner LLAL concluded an assessment of VolkerFitzpatrick-Kier’s updated and improved coronavirus action plan and construction phase plan.

Ciaran Scanlon, LLAL Programme Delivery Director, said: “We have only allowed the site to recommence works after a detailed and rigorous assessment of updated protocols provided by the contractor. A number of improvements have been identified for implementation on site, all of which will be subject to daily monitoring.

“The health and safety of the workforce on all our sites is our number one priority. We will keep the situation under review and, should we consider the contractor is falling short of their obligations to meet developing national Site Operating Procedures laid out by the Construction Leadership Council and Public Health England, we will not hesitate to take whatever action is appropriate.”

LLAL has taken on a second clerk of works to provide improved supervision over the site, and the health and safety advisor has increased visit. Both parties are involved in weekly review meetings with LLAL and the main contractor collectively check on progress.

Among the other measures put in place by the main contractor include:

• Dedicated distance supervisors on each of the project’s seven sites
• Reduced gang sizes and staggered breaks
• Restricted face-to-face working where possible and additional precautions where necessary
• Marked-off 2m zones in walkways as a visual reminder
• Taped-off seats in minibuses to limit use, and regular cleaning particularly of door handles and seatbelts
• Distancing measures in toilets and break-out areas
• Observation cards for any issues and concerns
• Clear recording of incidents and escalation process

Visit https://dart.llal.org.uk/ for more information about the project

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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