The contract for building Oakham's much needed relief road has been awarded to Alfred McAlpine Civil Engineering.

McAlpine faced strong competition from five other contractors in a competitive tendering process based primarily on the quality of bids.

The appointment of the contractor at the preparation stage – known as 'early contractor involvement' – is intended to speed up building the bypass and provide best value for Rutland County Council.

Rutlanders have been calling for the bypass, set to cost £7.92m, to ease town congestion.

Coun Trevor Ellis, Rutland's cabinet member for planning, highways and transport, said: "The awarding of the contract is great news for Rutland but it must be remembered there is still a great deal of essential preparatory work to do and construction is not planned until 2005.

"McAlpine's early involvement will ensure a smooth delivery of the project as they will be responsible for all aspects of designing and building the road.

"This will avoid disagreements between the stages of construction as McAlpine will be controlling the entire project from start to finish and will allow the construction of the bypass to begin without a further lengthy tendering process."

McAlpine, supported by consulting engineers Waterman Burrow Crocker, will take the project through the necessary legal procedures including, if needed, a public inquiry.

Mike Wainwright, the firm's regional director, said: "Alfred McAlpine and our designers are pleased to have this opportunity to improve environment quality and road safety by working with the county council towards successful completion of Oakham Bypass."

Construction is due to start in January 2005 – subject to the Government's confirmation of the required side roads and compulsory purchase orders, and completion of the detailed design – leading to an expected opening in February 2006.

Building could start earlier if a public inquiry is not needed.

Coun Ellis said: "The county council is now looking forward to working with McAlpine to ensure this much-needed and well supported bypass is completed as soon as possible."

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