HS2

Bringing HS2 into the Department for Transport (DfT) could increase, rather than reduce problems with the project, according to the head of the government's infrastructure advisory body. In September last year, the Financial Times reported that a government review would consider the possibility of making the DfT directly responsible for…

HS2 has submitted design changes for its Curzon Street station to Birmingham City Council. Outline planning permission for the terminus was granted in 2020, with a Mace-Dragados joint venture being awarded the £570m job the following year and early works starting in 2024. Application papers recently submitted to the local authority…

A single mammoth contract for HS2 work propelled Costain to the top of December’s league table, according to construction industry data specialist Glenigan. Work will begin in the first quarter of the year on the £400m job to deliver critical lineside mechanical and electrical systems for the high-speed rail link.…

HS2 plans to renegotiate its contracts with the joint ventures delivering the London-Birmingham rail scheme as part of a “fundamental reset” of the delivery programme. HS2 chief executive Mark Wild, who started in his role earlier this month, told a meeting of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee yesterday there would be…

The transport secretary has dismissed suggestions that HS2 is set to cost the public purse up to £66bn. An estimate made by officials at HS2 Ltd in June that the entire line would cost between £54bn and £66bn was neither “accurate or reliable”, Heidi Alexander said in a written statement…

Bam and Ferrovial have scooped the contract to design and build track infrastructure for the entire 140-mile route of HS2. The joint venture (JV) was chosen to deliver the three sections of high-speed route between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street station, part of a wider set of contracts…

Costain has landed a £400m contract to deliver tunnel and lineside mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems for HS2. Under the deal, the contractor will deliver the design, supply, manufacture, installation, testing and commissioning of HS2’s tunnel and lineside M&E systems during construction. Its work will start in Q1 2025 for…

Details of more problem bridges have emerged with both Network Rail and National Highways revealing they are affected alongside High Speed 2 Ltd (HS2 Ltd). Steel giant Severfield this week posted a £5.8m pre-tax loss in its interim results after uncovering the need to remediate a series of jobs it…

Steel giant Severfield has slipped to a £5.8m pre-tax loss in its interim results after uncovering the need to remediate 12 bridges, nine of which form part of the High Speed 2 (HS2) megaproject. The York-headquartered firm this morning (26 November) revealed it had set aside £20.4m to resolve structures…

HS2 works may have compounded flooding in some areas, according to the construction commissioner scrutinising the project.  In his latest report, covering the second quarter of 2024, independent commissioner for HS2 Sir Mark Worthington said he had heard “a number of reports of localised flooding impacting upon residents and communities”. …