HS2

This is the extract from the prime minister’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester in which he provided his reasons for U-turning on HS2. He also listed the projects on which the money saved will now be spent. A false consensus has taken root but all that matters…

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has announced that he is “cancelling the rest of the HS2 project”, adding that “in its place we will reinvest every single penny of the £36bn in hundreds of new transport projects”. The largest UK construction project in decades has been dramatically cut back, with Sunak…

Eight groundworks firms that were last week appointed on a framework for preliminary works on the HS2 line from Birmingham to the North West look to have been left without any work to do after today's decision to scrap the leg. HS2 awarded £300m of ground investigation work for HS2…

Mace is working on revised plans for HS2 Euston station that will “meet the budget”, according to its chief executive Mark Reynolds. Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme this morning (27 September), Reynolds said the government decision in March to postpone work on HS2’s only central London station “came out…

Construction leaders have warned the government that scrapping phase 2 of High Speed 2 would have “serious implications” for the UK economy. Prime minister Rishi Sunak is widely expect to scrap or postpone the extension of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester amid concerns over the project’s cost. This morning (25…

Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt has confirmed the northern leg of HS2 is under review as he criticised the ballooning costs of the scheme. In an interview on LBC Radio on Thursday evening (21 September), Hunt was asked if he could commit that the HS2 leg to Manchester would…

Critics have hit out after reports that the government is considering scrapping the Birmingham-to-Manchester phase of HS2. Speculation arose after a photo of a document allegedly used in a meeting between the prime minister and chancellor was published by the Independent. It appeared to show a calculation of savings from…

Costain improved its net cash position in the first half (H1) of this year compared with H1 2022, despite a lower revenue, pre-tax profit and operating margin. The firm had £132.1m in cash on 30 June, marking a 38 per cent year-on-year increase. Chief executive Alex Vaughan told Construction News that this…

Contractors have demanded urgent clarity after a leaked report revealed that the Euston terminus of High Speed 2 (HS2) could be reduced to just seven platforms. An internal document drawn up by HS2 Ltd lists several options for cutting costs on the troubled central London station scheme, according to the…

Whitehall’s major projects body has given the HS2 programme an “unachievable” rating. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) gave a red rating to both the high-speed rail programme’s first phase and its phase 2a in a new annual report released on 20 July. The IPA's definition of a red rating…