HS2

MPs and peers have called on ministers to take “radical action” to tackle the “systemic” problems that dog major infrastructure schemes such as HS2. In a new 36-page report, published on Wednesday (12 November), the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Project Delivery laid out a string of recommendations for the…

Ex-minister for rail and High Speed 2 (HS2) Huw Merriman has admitted that the cancellation of phase two of the UK’s flagship infrastructure project came as a “complete shock and surprise” as he was not involved in the decision, Construction News’ sister title New Civil Engineer has revealed. HS2 phase two…

The Department for Transport (DfT) has clocked up around £2.7bn in losses over the past two years due to cancelled HS2 plans and scrapped road projects, a new report has revealed. A National Audit Office (NAO) report on DfT spending flagged that £2.2bn was written-off from the previous government cancelling…

Work to connect the HS2 high-speed rail project to the West Coast Mainline is set to be delayed for a further four years, the megaproject has announced. It comes after its new chief executive Mark Wild, the former head of Crossrail, announced earlier this year that he was conducting a…

HS2 has started a phased return to work at just over half its London tunnel sites, three weeks after work was suspended following a serious safety incident. Work had been halted since Monday 29 September, when a beam struck a crane basket with two workers inside, Construction News previously reported.…

The head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has branded the HS2 rail megaproject a “disaster” and described ongoing uncertainty over its cost as “unacceptable”. In a report released this morning (15 October), Geoffrey Clifton-Brown added that the government “must learn” from the troubled programme. The then coalition government approved…

Work on HS2’s London tunnels has been suspended after a serious incident where a beam struck a crane basket with two workers inside, Construction News understands. No one was hurt, but the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV) flagged the issue with HS2 and has halted its work while…

HS2 Ltd is prioritising the renegotiation of a pair of major civils contracts as part of a sweeping reset of the high-speed rail programme. Alan Morris, the client’s director of construction delivery, confirmed that the phase one northern main works civils contracts, held by the Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) and…

Members of the forum for key bodies involved in developing the HS2 Euston terminus expected an announcement on its funding to be made at the June Spending Review, newly released minutes show. Details of the November 2024 meeting of the Euston Partnership Board show that, after last year's Autumn Statement…

An industry consortium has undertaken the most extensive use of artificial ground freezing (AGF) in the UK to date. The SCS joint venture, comprising Skanska, Costain and Strabag, is building cross passages for the HS2 rail project’s London tunnels, supported by Design House, a JV of Arup, Typsa and Strabag.…