THE North-East's first triple-decker roundabout is nearing completion thanks to support from a company that has earned two awards while on site.

Seymour Civil Engineering were contracted to install £8m worth of highway and kerb drainage for the Highways England Silverlink "super roundabout" due to finish in a matter of weeks.

The overall project worth £75m has been active since summer 2016 with motorists facing 30mph speed restrictions along a stretch of the A1058 Coast Road at its junction with the A19, North Tyneside.

Hartlepool-based Seymour Civil Engineering were contracted by John Sisk & Son to join the scheme and have been on site for 102 weeks to date.

During that time, the engineering firm have earned the Supply Chain Partner of the Year Civils UK Award at the Sisk Supply Chain Awards ceremony for the last two years for its work on the project, with particular mention made about the quality of work and its collaborative approach.

Ryan Browell, contracts manager at Seymour, said: “It’s definitely been one of the largest projects that I have been involved in throughout my career.

“I think the main challenge has been working around traffic management. We worked collaboratively with a host of other contractors such as those looking after the piling, bridges and laying of the roads.

He added: “We are very pleased with the work and we know that it’s going to make a real difference on one of the UK’s primary transport corridors.”

Seymour has installed drainage utilising the latest shaft sinking and micro-tunnelling techniques which has enabled continuous traffic flow on the A19.

The four key areas of Seymour’s work involved:

• Main highway and land drainage

• Trenchless crossing undertaken by micro tunnelling techniques

• Sinking three shafts, the deepest being 13.5m deep

• Installation of combined kerb drainage

More than 80,000 cubic metres of soil has been removed to create an underpass to form the triple-decker roundabout, with the Coast Road on top, a junction between the Coast Road, Silverlink and A19 in the middle, with the A19 itself at the bottom.

The project is expected to reduce queuing times for motorists and commuters travelling along the A19 at peak times.

Health and safety measures on the project has been particularly praised, with all contractors working to Highways England's Raising the Bar standards, provided the nature of the project and its location with 12 shifts a week and five dedicated night shifts.