Spending Review: Colossal £25bn for HS2 eclipses other transport pledges June 11, 2025 HS2’s colossal funding package eclipses all other railway investment pledges that Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Spending Review. Reeves pledged £3.5bn investment into the Transpennine route upgrade and £2.5bn for East-West rail as part of the Spending Review. The Chancellor also set out plans to “take forward” the UK’s ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail, [...]
HS2 regrets failure to protect key whistleblower who raised cost concerns May 27, 2025 HS2 has said it regrets the treatment of a key whistleblower who was pushed out of the project after raising concerns that staff had artificially kept cost estimates low. Stephen Cresswell, a former senior HS2 cost analyst, will receive a substantial compensation payout after HS2 admitted partial liability following a case for unfair dismissal at [...]
Boss of King Charles property portfolio in talks with old firm for slice of HS2 Euston May 16, 2025 King Charles’ property company is in talks to buy up part of HS2’s Euston site from its floundering owner, according to reports. The Crown Estate, led by Dan Labbad, is in talks with the Australian developer Lendlease for a 50 per cent stake in six major UK projects, an announcement on the Australian Stock Exchange [...]
Exclusive: Top transport civil servant who oversaw HS2 to step down March 19, 2025 Dame Bernadette Kelly, the top civil servant at the Department for Transport (DfT), is to step down after nearly eight years in the role. A Whitehall veteran with four decades of experience, Kelly was appointed permanent secretary in April 2017 following a stint as director general of the DfT’s rail group. She led work on [...]
Infrastructure boom lifts Balfour Beatty, Kier Group and Costain March 14, 2025 London-listed construction firms Balfour Beatty, Kier Group, and Costain, have all reported robust results this week as the UK’s increasing prioritisation of major infrastructure projects starts to life the sector. Their combined order books now exceed more than £30bn and shareholders stand to benefit. All three of the companies hiked their dividends and shareholder returns alongside their [...]
Exclusive: HS2 should not re-negotiate contracts, says Balfour Beatty boss March 13, 2025 A scathing report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last month concluded HS2 Ltd's contracts were "unacceptable to the public purse" and that it was "imperative" the project delivered on its assurances to re-negotiate them.
HS2 is beyond saving and poses risk to UK’s reputation, MPs conclude February 28, 2025 HS2 is beyond saving and must be studied by future governments as a “cautionary tale” on how “not to run a major project,” a cross-party group of MPs has concluded. In one of its most damming-ever reports, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was “long past the point” of offering recommendations on how to [...]
HS2 pushed government to keep ‘unjust’ compensation rules for ousted locals February 12, 2025 Bosses at HS2 pushed the government to keep an obscure law that enabled it to pay millions less in compensation to residents and businesses forced from their homes during construction, City AM can reveal. Internal documents obtained via FOI show how HS2 understood the arcane clause would cause “significant distress” and destroy jobs and livelihoods, [...]
HS2: Key Euston contract faces foul play allegations February 3, 2025 Construction giant Lendlease is leading the £4bn regeneration of Euston but is in the process of exiting its international operations.
Government too involved in HS2, warns top infrastructure adviser January 15, 2025 Too much government involvement in HS2 has hampered delivery and fuelled massive cost overruns and delays, according to a key infrastructure adviser. Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, told MPs he had “never been convinced by the governance structure of HS2,” having been influenced by his own experience delivering the infrastructure for [...]