HS2: Major contractors warn of damage to supply chain if plans change

Balfour Beatty’s Leo Quinn, Kier's Andrew Davies and Sir Robert McAlpine’s Paul Hamer are among a group of 25 industry leading figures who have written to prime minister Boris Johnson asking him to back the delivery of HS2.

The letter, also signed by the chief executives of Mace, Bam Nuttall and Morgan Sindall among others, highlighted the impact of the London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds rail project on jobs and investment in the Midlands and north of England. Their letter was a bid to “to re-emphasise the important and hugely positive benefits” of delivering HS2 in its entirety, it said, adding that HS2 would help to “redefine the construction and infrastructure industry itself”. It claimed that development of offsite skills in the sector would be a by-product of delivering HS2.

The letter added: “[HS2] will not only reduce transport emissions, but assist in the development of new, green engineering and construction skills.

“In the Midlands, it will drive a new generation of infrastructure manufacture. This will provide both a platform for other infrastructure schemes, and a catalyst for the next generation of logistics solutions, products and technology, which will spin-off from HS2.”

HS2 was put under review by prime minister Boris Johnson last year and its future remains uncertain.

The letter, many of whose signatories have won work on the project, said that the scheme has already been responsible for the employment of 9,000 people across 250 sites. It added: “To meet this opportunity, the industry has been investing and gearing up, based on the certainty of the scale and flow of work from HS2 in order to deliver this modernisation. HS2 is thus central to driving – and now maintaining – the industry’s bright future on a larger, global stage.

“We recognise that some of those who oppose HS2 have suggested that any decline in sector activity could be addressed through investment in alternative infrastructure works. We want to be clear – as experts on the forward pipeline of UK infrastructure opportunities – that no substantive ‘shovel-ready’ projects exist. It would take many years to get an equivalent pipeline of work in place, by which time the damage would already be done to the supply chain.”

Last month, Sir Robert McAlpine chief executive Paul Hamer, a co-signatory of the joint letter, called for the industry to speak with one voice to government and said he was willing to work with other CEOs to achieve that outcome. As well as the company bosses, the heads of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, Build UK, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, Confederation of British Industry and Federation of Small Businesses signed the letter.

Earlier today, the Financial Times reported that the Oakervee Review will recommend a pause on the northern phase of HS2. The Department for Transport said that a final decision on the project would be made soon. Responding to the FT report, Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said: “HS2 will be a defining project that shapes our sector for decades to come, and will ensure that we retain our place at the forefront of global engineering and construction delivery. From what we have seen of the Oakervee report so far, it is clear that further scrutiny of the overall programme and costs is required, but we must be conscious of the huge long-term economic value the scheme will generate across the entirety of the UK.”

Former Oakervee Review deputy chair Lord Tony Berkeley told Construction News last week that he had been unable to access information about costs while performing his role on the review.