Workington based firm Stobbarts has been awarded a £1.6m contract at the UK’s Low Level Waste Repository based near Drigg.

The construction company has been appointed to undertake civil, infrastructure and remediation works across the 100-hectare site, managed by Nuclear Waste Services, in a multi-phased project scheduled to run for almost a year.

Adam Stobbart of Stobbarts Ltd said: “We are thrilled to have been selected by Nuclear Waste Services to carry out these important works.

“This award is based not only on the strength of our tender submission but our track record of working successfully on the Repository site.

“We look forward to working in partnership with the client and other stakeholders to deliver the works.

“The company will be aiming to bring a number of social value benefits throughout the project, including the creation of local jobs, training opportunities, and apprenticeships.”

The contract was issued as a reserved procurement, where only suppliers from a set geographical area, in this instance Cumbria, were able to bid for the work.

Nuclear Waste Services hope to be able to do more of this in the future across other work streams in the business, supporting local firms and improving relations within the local supply chain.

Contractors have been invited by Nuclear Waste Services to undertake the maintenance of roads, carparks, footpaths and drainage, from resurfacing to white-line painting.

The work will also include the maintenance and improvement of disabled access routes; and the installation of tactile paving on footways.

This latest contract award underlines Nuclear Waste Services’s continuing commitment to support the West Cumbrian economy by making use of a well-established, local construction company.

Mike Pigott, Site Director at the Repository site, added: “Stobbarts have proven themselves a worthy SME for the work and we look forward to working together as an integrated Repository site team.

“We’re thrilled that this contract is also supporting our local community.

“Stobbarts will be leading on works to ensure all the basic infrastructure around the site is fully accessible and compliant with modern standards.

“We hope to get ‘boots on the ground’ very shortly to commence this vital work.”

The Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria is the UK’s principal facility for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste.

This nuclear licensed site enables the safe, secure, and environmentally compliant effective management and disposal of the UK’s radioactive low level waste. 

In the last decade low level waste has been dealt with more sustainably.

Alternative options such as re-use, recycling, decontamination, incineration, and specialised landfill, only for waste with the very lowest levels of radioactivity, are now preferred with disposal seen as a last resort.