£10.5m Project Wins Aid Yorkshire Growth For Civil Engineering Contractor

In his recent Budget 2021 announcement, Chancellor for the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced more than £1.4bn of funding for local infrastructure and transport projects across Yorkshire.

It is an investment that is long overdue, with analysis from Centre for Cities claiming that poor transport systems are contributing to a £5bn hit on the Yorkshire economy.

By launching the new City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, Sunak has pledged to invest £830m to West Yorkshire and a further £570m to South Yorkshire, with towns and cities set to benefit from schemes like the A61 improvements for buses, cyclists, and pedestrians between Leeds and Yorkshire.

Investing in community regeneration

Delivery of these projects is crucial to improve the infrastructure for businesses, residents and visitors. As opportunities increase, Esh Construction has become a key player in the sector with public realm, highways, infrastructure and enabling works among £10.5m of new contracts which have boosted the firm’s organic growth in the region.

Sustainability was at the heart of the recently completed Gypsey Race Park in the East of the county. Worth £5 million, Esh delivered four phases of public realm works to regenerate a number of areas around the Gypsey Race watercourse, creating enhanced ecology areas and attractive walking routes with play and rest areas. Located on a key route into Bridlington, the project provides benefits to the local community and wildlife.

Award-winning flood alleviation schemes in Cottingham and Whitby, and the recently completed Filey flood alleviation works, have added a combined £11 million to the contractor’s portfolio, with more than 5,000 properties protected from future flooding upon completion.



Levelling Up delivery

Esh Construction is appointed to the YORcivil2 framework for projects worth up to £10m. Since securing a place on the framework in 2017, Esh has delivered more than £25m of projects procured through YORcivil2, including the M181 Northern Junction in Scunthorpe, a £4.9m motorway infrastructure scheme to open up developable land.

Announced at the Spending Review, the Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK. The fund allows towns and cities to bid for cash to invest in regeneration and upgrading transport links – Doncaster and Rotherham are among 10 Yorkshire towns to benefit from an additional £187m investment.

Esh has recently commenced work on a project which will bring a green corridor and sustainable drainage scheme to Angel Street in Sheffield’s historic Castlegate. In West Yorkshire, a technically challenging landslip repair scheme is making headway in Elland and more than £4m of highways and infrastructure improvement works are in progress, including schemes for Rotherham Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

“The wide-ranging technical expertise among our workforce has benefited our clients, and with a well-connected local supply chain we are able to review projects and undertake value engineering exercises that bring added value, ensuring projects can be delivered with reduced risk,” added Conn.

Investment in local community

As a Queen’s Award-winning firm, Esh prides itself on delivering a bespoke social value offering and maximising the benefit of its schemes for the local community. Working in partnership with YOR4Good Fund – a community grant initiative which supports economic regeneration projects in association with the YORhub construction frameworks - Esh has created a dementia-friendly memory garden in Cottingham, enhanced the social meeting spaces for Seafarers in Whitby and decorated new premises for a foodbank in Bridlington.

The Forge Project in Scunthorpe - a charity which supports the homeless and adults at risk in North Lincolnshire - benefited from new fencing and secure gates thanks to Esh Construction and YOR4Good Fund. The donation has created a safer and cleaner environment for its service users and the community, as well as a lockable gardening area which will become a skills and wellbeing zone.

Esh has also supported the installation of 12 defibrillators across rural communities in Yorkshire by working with the Community Access Defibrillators for East Yorkshire (CADEY) campaign, founded by Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness.