As part of Lower Thames Crossing’s ambitions to be a carbon pathfinder project, LTC have a target to be a zero emissions free site from 2027. This means no diesel and no Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) allowed in all construction activities by the Delivery Partners and relying only on Electric and Hydrogen powered plant. This is something that has never been done at scale before in the UK and there is very limited understanding within our supply chain for how this can be executed. Although our Delivery Partners are working on how they can deliver this, they have limited experience in the UK and external specialist consultancy is required to advise LTC.

Procurement Act 2023

Direct award Paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of PA2023 is applicable as the following conditions are met in relation to the public contract: (a) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and (b) there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works. As referenced above there is no experience of delivering LTC’s carbon ambitions in the UK but this has been delivered elsewhere in Europe e.g. Norway and Netherlands. Both the Norwegian and Dutch roads authorities have delivered some projects using only zero emissions plant and machinery. This specialist resource has been identified as a result of engagement with European Partners and through their involvement with these European projects are able to advise on the operation of the plant, efficiency, energy infrastructure, maintenance and construction methodology to assist LTC deliver its zero carbon emission objectives.