Background

The Project comprises a concession for the operation, maintenance, expansion and financing of 60.3km of the A5 motorway, consisting of two sections: (i) bi-directional reconstruction and extension from four to six lanes of 41.5km between Baden-Baden and Offenburg; and (ii) operation and maintenance of 18.8km between Malsch and Baden-Baden. Over 70,000 vehicles use the A5 every day – many of them heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

In 2009 Meridiam completed the transaction in conjunction with a consortium formed by Vinci Concessions SAS (transferred in 2015 to Vinci Concessions Deutschland) and Strabag. Operation of the existing lanes began that same year.

Stage:

In Operation

ESG/SDG Key Facts

The Project Company performs in-house operations and maintenance. The Project Company has initiated an ambitious safety campaign targeting its employees on the ground as well as health at the workplace. Staff use a dedicated app on their mobiles to report all near misses and incidents so that those incidents can be analysed and debriefed. With this proactive approach, the risk that those incidents ever become an accident is significantly reduced. This app is used across Meridiam’s three German motorways so that projects can benefit from shared experience.
In 2020, the company decided to lay rumble strips on 16km of the motorway to help prevent collisions while staff intervene along the road. Since 2020, The Project Company decided to organise an annual safety awareness week, that covers a vast number of topics including fire protection, health, safety, and noise.
The Project Company is actively working on reducing its carbon footprint and launched a hackathon in 2020 with its employees to foster new ideas and initiatives. A very practical result is the emphasis now put on electricity consumption, through the reduction of consumption for the air conditioning of the IT systems, the ventilations of the office and the energy autonomy of its O&M centre through the installation of PV system combined with battery storage (to be completed in 2022).
Several low-scale initiatives were taken to protect biodiversity including no use of weedkiller, crossing aids for wildlife, replantation of shrubs or trees, prevention of contamination or decontamination, and recycling when possible.