HS2

A new vehicle aimed at speeding up large-scale developments that cross planning boundaries has been unveiled in the East Midlands. The East Midlands Development Corporation is being pushed by local authorities, universities and some businesses in the area, who say it will help deliver large developments, including a ‘Garden of…

The HS2 rail project is to form a new environmental sustainability group, reporting directly to HS2’s management board, charged with improving the project’s environmental strategy. The sustainability committee’s first task will be to review HS2’s existing environmental policies and objectives. It will also report on the project’s progress towards its…

HS2 has been closely monitoring the financial health of contractors, and has increased the amount of financial checks it carries out on its supply chain since the pandemic started, its chief executive has said. Speaking at the Construction News Summit yesterday, Mark Thurston said: “We’ve increased our own surveillance and…

HS2 is set to maintain control of Euston railway station into late 2021 according to its chief executive Mark Thurston. Governance of the Euston development was supposed to have been taken out of the hands of HS2, as recommended by the Oakervee Review, and was stated as a condition of the…

HS2 is inviting firms to tender for the first early civils works package on phase 2a of the megaproject. It has also announced that Balfour Beatty has landed a £25m-£30m ground investigation contract on the phase, which is the section between Birmingham and Crewe. HS2 is still awaiting parliamentary approval…

The government has said that it will divide up the northern phase of HS2 into smaller pieces when it seeks parliamentary approval for the line’s final sections. Speaking in a House of Lords committee meeting yesterday, Baroness Charlotte Vere, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Transport, said the…

HS2 plans to spend up to £5.6m on an expert panel to oversee progress on delivery of the £88bn project. The Independent Technical Expertise Panel will “peer-review” the main design and construction approach for the civils works contracts, stations and phase two plans. This will include “challenging excessive conservatism” in…

HS2 is set to deploy a robot arm to automate two risky tasks during tunnelling work on the rail megaproject. The robot, dubbed Krokodyl, has been developed by main works contractor Align, a joint venture between Bouygues, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick. It will be deployed on a pair of…

HS2 and Network Rail should make tier-one contractors provide a visible pipeline of work for potential subcontractors as a condition of winning work, according to Keltbray’s chief executive. Darren James called for the measure to be introduced to help SMEs win work and make the correct investments. He was speaking…

HS2 has opened the registration process for potential suppliers to meet contractors about working on the project. The rail project’s ‘Meet the Contractor’ event will take place from 23-26 November and is the first of its kind to be held since HS2 received its notice to proceed with major works.…