The A465, Heads of The Valleys, trunk road is a key piece of the strategic road network in South East Wales, connecting the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone in the west with the M50 and the Midlands in the east.

The 18km length between Dowlais Top, Merthyr Tydfil and Hirwaun (Sections 5 & 6) are the westernmost sections, and currently remain a single three-lane carriageway with at-grade junctions that restrict traffic flow and affect reliability. The road has a poor safety record, limited opportunities for overtaking and poor facilities for active travel.

Appointed in October 2019, Arfon Consulting was responsible for delivery of key commercial advisory services as part of an embedded multidisciplinary consultancy team of DLA Piper (Legal), PwC (Financial); Jacobs (Technical); and, Willis (Insurance).

In tandem with the other specialist consultancy service providers. Arfon Consulting supported the Welsh Government’s Competitive Dialogue public procurement competition to appoint a private sector delivery partner to design, build, finance and operate the A465 Dualling project.

Over the course of its commission, Arfon Consulting successfully delivered the following work packages:

• The commissioning of a bespoke cloud based portal for receipt of Final Tender Submissions, and coordination of advisor led tender evaluation;

• Authorship of the Management Case component of the project’s Full Business Case in accordance with HM Treasury’s Green Book or ‘5 Case Model’ business case methodology;

• Resourcing Transport for Wales’ public procurement of Employer’s Agents for Key Stage 6 (Construction) for the A465 Dualling project;

• Key advisor to the Deputy Director, Infrastructure Delivery Division of the Welsh Government.

Completion of construction in 2025 will mark the conclusion of a twenty year programme of works to upgrade the entire 40km stretch of the A465 from Hirwaun to Abergavenny Trunk Road.