£75m deal for May Gurney

Infrastructure services firm May Gurney has secured a multi-million- pound waste and recycling contract with Bridgend County Borough Council.

The Trowse-based company was yesterday named preferred bidder to deliver recycling, waste collection and household waste recycling centres for the south Wales council in a contract worth up to £75m.

The contract begins in April 2010 and initially runs for seven years with a further seven-year extension available.

The deal will see May Gurney work with the authority to help meet recycling targets using a "kerbside sort" approach in which workers sort waste into different categories in specially designed collection trucks on the roadside. The company delivers similar services to 18 local authorities across the UK.

Philip Fellowes-Prynne, May Gurney chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have been selected as preferred bidder by Bridgend County Borough Council to deliver essential frontline services.

"The council appointed us because of our commitment to working in partnership with them to deliver the Welsh Assembly government's waste diversion targets.

"The service solution we developed for Bridgend focuses on delivering higher recycling rates, sending less waste to disposal and includes recycling a far wider range of materials than more traditional approaches."

The win is the latest in a series of major contracts secured by May Gurney, which employs 700 people in Norfolk and more than 4,000 nationally.

Last month, the company won an £85m, 14-year waste and recycling contract with North Somerset Council. The company's highways department also secured a 10-year, £350m contract with Lincolnshire County Council in September, and a £16m extension to its highways contract with Norfolk County Council to cover the Norwich area.

Announcing the Bridgend contract win, May Gurney officials said the company had a forward order book totalling more than £1.25bn.