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Contracts on four HS2 stations up for grabs

HS2 are planning to hold a competition for architects to submit their design ideas for some major stations along the route.

The four major stations that are offered in the competition include Euston and Curzon Street in the city of Birmingham.

Expected to cost in excess of £43 billion in total, HS2 has released the initial schedule for forthcoming expenditure, which in this case will go towards design work on Euston, Old Oak Common, Birmingham Interchange and Curzon Street stations.

The architect-led designs could see the plans for Euston taken back to the drawing board after the desgins by Grimshaw were widely criticised by both Camden council and the landowner of the Euston estate, Sydney & London Properties.

A spokesman for HS2 said “The first stages of the procurement process for the main stations contracts will begin towards the end of the year.”

“We are still at the early stages of agreeing the contract arrangements and it may be different for south and north stations due to programme/complexity.”

This news follows recent controversies regarding materials supply chains. Ministers have been loudly proclaiming that it is imperative that Whitehall departments specify British steel throughout the project in a desperate bid to help save struggling steelworks, however, it has recently been discovered that the office in charge of procurement does not hold a record of how much it currently purchases. A revelation that many feel is reckless and irresponsible, given the fact that the very future of the UK’s biggest steel plant hangs in the balance after Indian owner Tata Steel announced last week it wants to sell its loss-making UK operations.

The knock on effect of this also jeopardises the future security of the Port Talbot works in South Wales, with some estimates suggesting that over 40,000 jobs are at risk, including workers and staff at businesses reliant in the plant.

HS2 continues to power forward in an attempt to reunite the North and South in terms of wealth and health. However, how much damage will it do along the way?

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“HS2 already changing Britain,” says chairman

The chairman of HS2 has said that the project is already changing the way private investors, as well as local and central government plan for the future in Britain.

But David Higgins said HS2 must also help change the way we deliver infrastructure in this country as soon as we can reap the benefits for future projects such as Hinckley Point.

Mr Higgins made his comments in a speech in Manchester marking the second anniversary of the launch of his first report in the city.

In that two years, he said, not only had the concept of re-balancing the British economy taken root, people were beginning the process of making it a reality, helped by the moves towards devolution.

Local authorities and enterprise partnerships not just in Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, but also in the North West, the East and West Midlands, and Yorkshire were using HS2 not just to re-think their transport systems, but also how they attract private investment to their areas – and business has responded.

They were taking responsibility for transforming both their local economies and the overall balance of the national economy.

Companies such as Burberry in Leeds, HSBC in Birmingham, Interserve in Solihull are beginning to recognise the benefits of the extra connectivity and capacity that HS2 will deliver – as are potential investors elsewhere.

The potential for that transformation is outlined in a report published by HS2 today – HS2: Changing Britain.

The report also outlines how HS2 is already changing the perceptions and ambitions of the next generation quoting Cheshire East councillor, Rachel Bailey, as saying that it is already having a tangible effect in Crewe:

“That difference is being felt in schools because it is helping to lift pupils’ horizons, particularly on skills.”

But Sir David also challenged the UK infrastructure industry to learn the lessons of construction elsewhere and become more streamlined in its approach.

A series of factors, he said, made the UK industry less cost effective: a history of stop/go which prevented firms investing in skills, innovation and technology; fragmentation leading to multiple overhead costs plus a lack of co-ordination between design and construction.

HS2, he said, was determined to adopt a new approach which would bear down on those factors and transform the way we deliver infrastructure in this country, without compromising HS2’s strategic objective to re-balance the British economy.

That approach would include:

  • early contractor involvement to drive innovation and efficiencies in design and methodology
  • adopting enabling works contracts to clear the line of route ahead of the main civils works
  • incentivising companies to out-perform
  • adopting techniques new to this country such as linear construction, which uses the newly constructed route as a supply chain access

“As a twenty year project we have no excuse not to become more streamlined in our approach and not to innovate.”

Sir David said the lessons learnt from applying this approach to Phase One would be then be transferred to Phase Two.

You can view the report here.
You can read the speech here.

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HS2 cost jumps by £5.6bn

Group campaigning against HS2 have highlighted large disparities in figures predicted by HS2 officials and politicians and the actual financial cost to Britain.

George Osborne announced as part of the Autumn Statement that there would be a £20bn increase in transport infrastructure spending. However, what he didn’t mention is that over a quarter of this is accounted for by an 11% increase in the cost of building HS2. Paragraph 2.85 of the Autumn Statement states:

“Construction will begin on HS2 during the Parliament, and the Spending Review confirms a funding envelope of £55.7 billion in 2015 prices, which will deliver HS2 from London to Birmingham by 2026, and to Leeds and Manchester by 2033.”

Up until now, the official cost of the construction of HS2 has been stated as £42.6bn in 2011 prices, with a further £7.5bn added for the cost of trains, so £55.7bn represents an increase of £5.6bn, or 11%. This figure for the overall cost of the HS2 project is almost double the original estimate published in 2010.

Mr Osborne also said that along with HS2, the Great Western, Trans Pennine and Midland Mainline electrification projects can go ahead. As all of these projects have been beset with serious budget problems, it is likely that the increase in capital spend within the Department for Transport is simply to cover the cost over-runs which have been caused by chronic mismanagement.

Back in July the Trans Pennine and Midland Mainline projects were ‘paused’ by Government due to mismanagement and cost over-runs, only for them to be given the go-ahead in September. However, the costs of these projects is unclear. Just last week the Public Accounts Committee said it was “staggering and unacceptable” that current estimates for Great Western Electrification stand at £2.8bn, against a budget in 2013 of just £874m.

This news comes just a day after it was revealed that 46 members of staff at HS2 Ltd are paid more than the Prime Minister.

Stop HS2 Campaign Manager Joe Rukin responded “HS2 is abysmal value for money, and the increasingly dogmatic support for this white elephant and its’ spiralling costs is completely unfathomable. An 11% increase in the projected costs for construction is shameful after promises that the costs would be kept under control, but it is just another in a long line of HS2 cost hikes, and there will be more to come.”

“With trains not due to run for over another decade, who knows where the cost of this vanity project will end up and what else will have to be cut to pay for it? A responsible chancellor would be asking serious questions about whether HS2 is really worth it, not chucking more money at a boondoggle which would only benefit the richest in society. This is simply rewarding chronic mismanagement, and signalling that there is no need for budgetary control when it comes to HS2.”

Penny Gaines Chair of Stop HS2 added “HS2 is clearly a white elephant. Transport in the North does need improvement, but it isn’t the links to London which are holding back the economies of the North. It’s the ability to cross the Pennines, it’s getting into city centres from local towns. This is where the money needs spending on transport, not on one big showy railway line.”

“The government should make the decision to cancel HS2. There are far better uses for the money, which will have far better long and short term results. The people in charge of Network Rail when the now-delayed electrification programme was being developed are now in charge of HS2. They made a mess of that, and now they are making a mess of HS2.”

“Time and again, the government and HS2 Ltd have been overly optimistic about the cost of building HS2. It’s almost as if they picked a figure for the costs which was just about politically bearable, and then they hope no-one will notice when they increase it.”

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HS2 Midlands route to open six years early… despite soaring costs

The section of HS2 that connects Birmingham with Crewe is now set to open six years ahead of the original schedule in 2027.

This announcement follows last week’s Autumn Statement revealing that the overall cost of HS2 is now rising to over £55bn, £5bn more than the projection made two years ago of £50.1bn.

In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor also announced £200 million to support the operations of Transport for the North (TfN) and its delivery of Oyster-style ticketing across rail, bus, metro and trams across the region. He also confirmed at Spending Review 2015 that £13 billion would be spent on transport in the North over this Parliament. TfN and the Department for Transport have also jointly launched their Autumn Report on the Northern Transport Strategy.

Chancellor George Osborne said “bringing forward this part of the HS2 route by six years is a massive step in the right direction for the Northern Powerhouse where high speed rail will play a big role in connecting up the entire region with the rest of the country.”

HS2 Ltd Chairman Sir David Higgins added “This is another significant milestone in the development of Britain’s high speed rail network. By accelerating the second phase between Birmingham and Crewe, we will bring the capacity, connectivity and regeneration benefits of HS2 to the North-West and Scotland years earlier than originally planned. It has also been very gratifying, as we develop the plans for Phase Two, to see a consensus grow among the city regions in the East Midlands and Yorkshire on the siting of future hub stations at Toton and Leeds city centre respectively. We all recognise the huge contribution this infrastructure investment can make in helping to rebalance our economy.”

The plans, coined ‘Phase 2a’, is raising concerns among those who disagree with the building of a High Speed Rail in Britain. Many feel that bringing forward the completion date for just 40 miles of track will surely raise questions as to whether if HS2 is built, it would ever get further than Crewe.

Stop HS2 Campaign Manager Joe Rukin criticised the announcement, saying “the supposed ‘fast-tracking’ of the route to Crewe, coupled with the rising costs of HS2 and real problems with the practicality of the rest of the proposed route, will surely lead many to conclude HS2 would never get further than Crewe. Far from showing a commitment to the North of England, going ahead with this proposal punts the links to Manchester, Yorkshire and the East Midlands firmly into the long grass, and if being a rail hub equaled economic prosperity, Crewe would already be the most prosperous town the the country.”

“HS2 is abysmal value for money, and the increasingly dogmatic support for this white elephant and its’ spiralling costs is completely unfathomable. The costs of HS2 went up 11% in the Autumn Statement and with trains not due to run for over another decade, who knows where the cost of this vanity project will end up and what else will have to be cut to pay for it? A responsible chancellor would be asking serious questions about whether HS2 is really worth it, not chucking more money at a boondoggle which would only benefit the richest in society. This is simply rewarding chronic mismanagement, and signalling that there is no need for budgetary control when it comes to HS2.”

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Construction of HS2 “will create 25,000 jobs,” says the Tories

The £43bn High Speed 2 project is expected to create employment opportunities to the tune of 25,000 jobs within construction, according to Transport Minister Robert Goodwill.
The minister predicted that 60% of the construction work involved in delivering a high-speed rail link between London and the North were expected to be awarded to small and mid-sized businesses.

Robert Goodwill said “We need everything from architects to aggregates, steel and surveyors, to engineers and environmental consultants.”

“We estimate that HS2 will create 25,000 jobs during construction and 3,000 jobs when in operation. Not just on site, but right across the UK.”

“The jobs that HS2 will create are an incredible opportunity for the UK, but also a major challenge. Because while we need 25,000 skilled professionals for HS2, our investment in the existing rail and road networks is creating another 20,000 jobs.”

“And that’s at the same time as we need skilled people for all our other great infrastructure projects such as flood defences, nuclear power stations and perhaps even Crossrail 2.”
“We need many more engineers, surveyors, construction workers, planners, drainage experts and even arboriculturists. So we are getting ready now. We will write into the statute book our commitment to create 3M apprenticeships by 2020, many of which will serve infrastructure.”

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