HS2 project (Great Britain) : the timeline up to 2025
26 July 2022
HS2 Ltd reveals the timeline of the main contracts and works until 2025. By then, Phase 1 to Birmingham will be substantially complete.
At the NCE’s Future of Rail conference, Tim Smart, HS2 Phase 2 Director, presented a precise schedule for the Project. He began by announcing that the winner of the contract to build the ecofriendly interchange station is Laing O’Rourke.
In August, work will begin on the Northolt tunnels. The two tunnel boring machines needed to dig the 21 km long bitube have been assembling at the West Ruislip site since November 2021 and are expected to complete their run in August 2024.
In September, HS2 Ltd will appoint its partner for the design and delivery of the 58km between Birmingham and Crewe (Phase 2a). The shortlisted bidders are 2 Connect (Aecom Costain JV), AMS (Atkins, Mace, Systra JV) and Jacobs. The contract is estimated at £500 million.
In the meantime, by December, the tender for the Phase 2a works will be opened to companies.
The Long Itchingdon Wood tunnel in Warwickshire will be the first HS2 tunnel to be completed, in early 2023. The Dorothy TBM, launched by BBV (Balfour Beatty Vinci JV), is well on its way to completing the 1.6 km route.
In February 2023, MDJV (Mace Dragados JV) will start construction work on Birmingham’s new Curzon Street station, which is estimated to cost £570 million. They are partners with WSP and Grimshaw Architects, the designers of the carbon neutral station. It will be the first intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19th century.
The Bromford tunnel in Warwickshire will allow trains from Delta Junction to Water Orton to reach Biemingham. Originally planned to be 2.8 km long, HS2 Ltd plans to double its length to 5.7 km, reducing both the constraints of a major urban area and the impacts on neighbours and businesses. Excavation is scheduled for March 2023 and is expected to be completed in September 2024.
The contract for construction of the Washwood Heath Depot, designed by Jacobs-Atkins, will be awarded in October 2023. Located northeast of downtown Birmingham, it will be the primary control center for HS2. The shortlist for the construction contract, estimated to be worth £275 million, was announced last year and includes Gulermak Ağır Sanayi İnşaat ve Taahhüt A Ş and Gulermak Sp z o.o.; Vinci and Keltbray and VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerRail.
Digging of the Euston tunnel will begin in February 2024. The 7.2 km tunnel will start at the Euston terminus in central London and run northwest through the city to the new Old Oak Common station, reaching a depth of 50 m. Preliminary work will begin this summer and it will be built by SCS JV. It will be lined with precast concrete segments, prepared by Pacadar UK at its Isle of Grain plant in Kent. SCS JV recently secured a £78 million extension to the tunnel excavation costs.
Shortly thereafter, in March 2024, tunnelling in the Chilterns is expected to be completed. At 16km long, it is the longest tunnel on the route, and the 2,000t Florence and Cecilia TBMs have been designed specifically for the chalk and flint mix under the Chilterns. Operated by Align (Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick JV), the two TBMs have already been working for more than a year through the Chilterns hills and completed the first phase to Chalfont-St-Peter in March.
The west box at Old Oak Common is scheduled for completion in April 2023. This particular structure is being built by SB3 (Balfour Beatty Bachy Soletanche JV). Work is underway, but its 1.8 km long wall seems to be a headache according to Project Manager Carl Dunsire: “It’s a total nightmare.”
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