Birmingham driving service sector boom Markets Birmingham has been at the front of a “service sector boom”, according to new research from Oxford Economics, helping to drive job creation across the wider region. The West Midlands combined authority (WMCA), which contains Britain’s second city, saw gross value added (GVA) in the services sector rise by an average of 4.2 per cent [...]
HS2 tunnel into Euston must deliver ‘credible plan’ for regeneration Transport & Infrastructure With tunnelling finally underway for the HS2 link between London Euston and Old Oak Common, a business group has called for a “credible plan” for regeneration of the area around the Central London transport artery. Business LDN has said that whilst the beginning of the tunnelling is “a significant milestone and a timely reminder of [...]
Labour to unveil new Birmingham-Manchester rail link after HS2 fiasco Transport and infrastructure Ministers are poised to unveil plans to build a new railway line running from Birmingham to Manchester as part of a major overhaul of rail infrastructure in the North – but it won’t break ground for roughly a decade. Rachel Reeves will reveal the heavily delayed shake-up of east-west railway lines across the north of [...]
UK’s first high-speed railway HS1 faced cancellation months before Channel Tunnel opening December 31, 2025 Ministers considered abandoning the High Speed 1 (HS1), the UK’s first high-speed railway that links London to the Channel Tunnel amid financial struggles just months before the cross-channel line was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, City AM can reveal. According to correspondence released by the National Archives, transport minister John MacGregor listed axing the high-speed [...]
The only way to make HS2 cheaper? Build HS3 September 18, 2025 It’s a basic fact of economics that the more efficiently you make something, the easier it is to bring down the price. Among the best-known examples is the Ford Model T, one of the top-selling cars in the 20th century with more than 15 million produced. The manufacturing process became so efficient, and each car’s [...]
Surinder Arora: Heathrow could be the next Thames Water September 17, 2025 Surinder Arora is the man bidding to break a decades-old monopoly by winning the right to build Heathrow’s third runway. With the government’s first remarks on proposals expected this month, he sits down with Ali Lyon to discuss the merits of his proposal, the reasons behind it, and why he thinks that – without urgent [...]
Reform promise to scrap ‘insane’ Northern Powerhouse Rail September 8, 2025 Reform UK has pledged to scrap Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), labelling the project “insane” ahead of a major announcement by the Labour government in the coming weeks. Richard Tice, in a forward to a report by centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, told companies considering bidding for contracts to build NPR that they should “not bother” [...]
Costain shares tumble after HS2 delays spark revenue slump August 20, 2025 Shares in Costain tumbled 13 per cent in the opening minutes of trade in London after the construction firm was hit by further delays to HS2. The Bishopsgate-based business said its overall revenue fell 17.8 per cent to £525m for the first six months of the year, of which revenue for its rail infrastructure services [...]
Balfour Beatty receives profit boost from government contracts August 13, 2025 Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty recorded a jump in profit for the first half of the year after a bumper performance in its UK construction. The London-listed firm posted a £20m rise in pre-tax profit for the first six months of the year to £132m, up from £112m last year. It came as the business’ UK [...]
HS2 contracts may be twice as costly as first thought, says new boss July 9, 2025 The contracts for HS2 may run to more than double their initial projected cost, the troubled project’s new chief executive has warned ahead of crunch talks this autumn. Mark Wild, who was brought in to reset the high-speed line last year, told MPs the contracts would finish “considerably over budget,” with a likely overspend of [...]