The Ministry of Defence has issued a Contract Award Notice for a major upgrade project at RAF Valley in Ynys Mon (Anglesey).

The focus is on the refurbishment of the secondary runway, specifically the Aircraft Operating Surfaces (AOS) and Aircraft Ground Lighting (AGL).

Valued at approximately £44 million, the project has a two-year timeline, starting on 19 December 2023 and scheduled for completion by 19 December 2025.

Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure, a Belfast-based company, won the contract following a bidding process that concluded on 17 May 2023. The firm is known for its work in aviation infrastructure and will be responsible for the refurbishment tasks crucial to the airbase’s operations.

Published on Contracts Finder on 20 December 2023, the notice details the contract under the CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary) code 45235300. This code is specific to construction work for aircraft-manoeuvring surfaces.

The notice states, “To refurbish the secondary runway Aircraft Operating Surfaces & Aircraft Ground Lighting at RAF Valley Ynys Mon (Anglesey)”, indicating the precise nature of the work to be undertaken.

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Lisa has a degree in Media & Communication from Glasgow Caledonian University and works with industry news, sifting through press releases in addition to moderating website comments.
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Andy Like
Andy Like
10 months ago

Two years to lay tarmac and some lights

Jonno
Jonno
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy Like

I’d like the contract to be made public. We are in a situation just short of war. God help us if the Russians start blowing holes in the runways. Pathetic. The Airstaff need a really good shake up and court marshalling to set an example.

DRS
DRS
10 months ago

Could they extend that second runway a bit, seems there is space for it from the shot.

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
10 months ago

Somebody is making a lot of money on that contract…….£44m……that is about 4x what it should be.

ABCRodney
ABCRodney
10 months ago

Maybe you should have put in a bid 😉

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
10 months ago
Reply to  ABCRodney

It is the usual problem of working active airside and in a secure environment – drives up costs.

DH
DH
10 months ago

? A wee bit of finger 🖕 in the eye to the elbow. Bah humbug. 😏😁🕳️

Twa
Twa
10 months ago

It’s the MOD…par fir the course!

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago

If someone rocked up at the guard room and said, “I’ve got a couple of loads of tarmac, do you need the runway resurfacing?” that would help the defence budget a lot! Seriously, I guess the tarmac is really the cheap bit. The lighting and who knows what else needs to go in will be the expensive bit.

Jonno
Jonno
10 months ago
Reply to  Wyn Beynon

44m?? Don’t defend graft!

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Jonno

Graft as in U.K. “hard work” or graft as in the U.S. – “stealing”? The runway is 1500 metres (just under a mile) long and 50 wide which is by my maths not dissimilar to a motorway. They cost between 20£M to £60M a mile, so it looks bang on to me.

Paul.P
Paul.P
10 months ago

Remember its Wales…they can’t exceed 20mph 🙂

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Paul.P

If you’ve ever been to Cardiff you’ll know that 20mph can only be achieved in your dreams. If you make 15mph you think you’re flying, boyos!

Paul.P
Paul.P
10 months ago
Reply to  Wyn Beynon

Problem everywhere these days. Have to say I zoom past Cardiff, hack my way past Port Talbot and Swansea and headed for the sunlit uplands of Pembrokeshire.

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Paul.P

And very nice too. I grew up in Carmarthenshire – right in the middle of the RAF Pembrey (now RAF Pembrey Sands) range circuit so had Hunters all day long from the early 1960s. Fab! They are why I wanted to fly. My father farmed the land between the by then redundant airfield. Happily, it’s now a civil airfield. Getting in an out must be fun when the range is active.

PaulW
PaulW
10 months ago

Why would a training base need two operational runways, whilst a major combat base (ie. Lossiemouth) just gets one. Priorities need addressing, I think.

Tom
Tom
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

Lossiemouth has 2. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

PaulW
PaulW
10 months ago
Reply to  Tom

Please refer to my correcting comment made earlier. Thanks.

Tom
Tom
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

Hi Paul. By the time my original response got approved you had already made the clarification but I hadn’t seen it yet, so apologies for the confusion.

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Tom

No need to be rude, chum.

Tom
Tom
10 months ago
Reply to  Wyn Beynon

Calm down you silly sausage. People in defence circles consistently speak about things they have little idea about and misinformation gets spread. It’s important to keep it in check.

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Tom

Thanks Tom, duly calmed down! But I’m a Vicar so I am hard wired to tell people to be nice to each other!! I get that misinformation is always a danger.. in my own professional life I see that all the time… Distinguishing between a mistake and misinfo is an important skill, increasingly so as info is instantaneous It’s also a tough world where we have to get facts straight. But genuine mistakes are the fertile soil of new learning, and distinguishing which is misinfo and which a genuine mistake is an art. It’s one reason I engage in conversation… Read more »

Tom
Tom
10 months ago
Reply to  Wyn Beynon

Hi Wyn. That’s understandable. I’m still learning a lot of stuff myself so I apologise if my comment came across as crass to either you or Paul as it wasn’t intended to be. All the best.

Louis
Louis
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

Valley already has two runways, as does Lossiemouth. A new runway is virtually impossible in most RAF bases as there isn’t the space.

Carlos
Carlos
10 months ago
Reply to  Louis

They’ll be maintaining one of the current runways as it states in the report, runway 19 as 31 was done a few years back.

Connor
Connor
10 months ago
Reply to  Louis

Fantastic Runway facilities at LLanbedr, ignored completely, plenty of room on the old RAF and RAE site for expansion.

Jonno
Jonno
10 months ago
Reply to  Connor

Probably nowhere to sit the deckchairs and goggle out to sea? Lazy bums.

817 mick
817 mick
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

Maybe doing some research will answer your question!!!

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

You could say it has a 3rd too, the RLG at Mona.

PaulW
PaulW
10 months ago
Reply to  PaulW

My bad. Meant Coningsby, not Lossiemouth.

maurice10
maurice10
10 months ago

Good to hear that Valley will get much-needed investment. This base is principal in terms of training and the economy of Anglesey.

Frank
Frank
10 months ago

I’m confused, We have next to bugger all Hawks left yet Valley, which has been flying them for yonks, now requires a second runway ?

Robert Blay
Robert Blay
10 months ago
Reply to  Frank

Why is it confusing? It’s a busy operational station with a very high sortie rate across the various training aircraft that operate out of Valley. It’s also in a pretty windy location. And as the article state’s. Its a revamp of an existing runway. Its not a brand new runway.

Jonno
Jonno
10 months ago
Reply to  Robert Blay

I think the RAF needs a good shake up. Possibly even a Royal Commission.

Coll
Coll
10 months ago
Reply to  Frank

Now requires? It’s always had a second runway. Technically, it has three if you include the relief runway less than 6 miles away at RAF Mona.

Frank
Frank
10 months ago
Reply to  Coll

Yes, I now see what i wrote. I mis read the article. Doh !

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
10 months ago
Reply to  Coll

Oh, sorry. I just made that point further up, now I see you’ve covered it.

Coll
Coll
10 months ago

No need to apologise.

SailorBoy
SailorBoy
10 months ago
Reply to  Frank

The USAF use Valley a lot for the Match Loop.
We should have got them to pay the bill 😉

Andrew D
Andrew D
10 months ago
Reply to  Frank

Agreed I find it odd , maybe a squadron of Typhoons on there way 🤗

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Frank

Don’t forget the Texans which are far more likely to need a second runway option in strong winds. The faster you fly the less crosswinds are problem.

David Lloyd
David Lloyd
10 months ago

Despite a major war in Ukr, with the UK supplying lots of hardware and materiel, no mention of air defence. Even after Medvedev and Putin made all sorts of threats against us

Frank62
Frank62
10 months ago
Reply to  David Lloyd

When the planners/HMG have their heads in the sand the outlook seems perfectly safe!

ABCRodney
ABCRodney
10 months ago

People need to understand that most RAF bases and their Runways were laid out either during or just prior to WW2 and were built quickly and for a different era.
If you do a bit of research the work involved is pretty extensive and essentially involves digging the entire runway and its foundations up, regrading, upgrading and replacing it. Oh and the base needs to stay operational whilst that is going in.
See Breedon for details.

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
10 months ago
Reply to  ABCRodney

I know what it involves and you are 100% right about how hurriedly a lot of the bases were put together.

https://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2009-0847-0856_Potts.pdf

Daniele Mandelli
Daniele Mandelli
10 months ago
Reply to  ABCRodney

Exactly.

David Barry
David Barry
10 months ago
Reply to  ABCRodney

There is also the issue of the aggregates and their grade. The Czech should have used a 4(?) but instead used a (10) you get the idea, to save a lot of money – you can’t see the substrate on a new motorway, so…

Motorway collapsed within weeks of opening and prison time followed.

An Italian engineer tasked with resurfacing Rīga Airport, shipped his materials in from Iirc Sweden at a cost of mere millions despite being offered… inducements… to use low quality Latvian aggregates. It’s not cheap.

Tom
Tom
10 months ago

So… some light fittings. A few light bulbs. Concrete and tarmac for a runway. Concrete, special blocks and bricks, for special RAF buildings, oh and maybe a new Mess Hall?

All this costs £44million nowadays?

As soon as you say things like The firm is known for its work in aviation infrastructure”, the price doubles.

Taylor Wimpey would probably have served just as well.

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
10 months ago
Reply to  Tom

George Wimpey might have built the original runway!

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Tom

Interestingly a motorway – a comparable surface, I suggest – costs between £20 and £60 million a mile (according my research) – so £44M is right in the middle of the ball park, I think. A £million isn’t worth much these days. We need to not be boggled by the numbers.

Paul.P
Paul.P
10 months ago

O/T but Santa is on his way to Ulraine…the first batch of F-16s are being prepared for delivery by the Netherlands.

Scotty
Scotty
10 months ago

They refurbished the main runway with a new addition to the ring road, where you don’t have to go out the main gate to crash gate 2 every time you need to go over the other side. The work was carried out by an Irish company in 2018-2019.

Marked
Marked
10 months ago

What’s the point, nothing left to actually use it!

Fen TIger
Fen TIger
10 months ago
Reply to  Marked

Runway refurbs.’ usually precede airfield closures’.

Wyn Beynon
Wyn Beynon
10 months ago
Reply to  Fen TIger

I well remember, in the 1990s, the Ward Room at a certain Navy land base being re-roofed with beautitiful Welsh slate 6 months before the whole place was closed down!