Bircham to steer £300m Leeds guided bus scheme

Bircham Dyson Bell has beaten off competition from two firms in a beauty parade to advise Metro, the West Yorkshire passenger transport executive, on a £300m transport system for Leeds.

It will advise Metro on the powers needed to authorise the scheme, which is likely to require an order under the Transport and Works Act, and will support it through the 2010 public inquiry.

Major projects partner Paul Thompson is leadin the firm’s team, assisted by partner Nick Evans and associate Rahul Bijlani.

Although this is the first major piece of work that Bircham has done for Metro, it follows on from successful instructions on the Cambridgeshire guided busway and the Nottingham Express Transit system.

“Looking at a new technology not implemented on this kind of scale before is exciting,” said Evans. “We acted on the Cambridgeshire guided busway and it helped us get a handle on all the new technology.”

Set for completion in 2014, the Leeds scheme will involve implementing a bus scheme with partial kerbside guidance. DLA Piper partner Alex Guy is providing legal advice to Metro on the business case for the scheme.