黑洞社区

The HS2 station at Euston is now not expected to open until 2035 as the industry counts the cost of last week鈥檚 decision by the government to slow work down on the scheme in the face of soaring budgets.

The site will be mothballed in the coming weeks and manned by just a skeleton staff of security personnel once current preparatory work is finished.

Firms working on Euston have already begun to look at paring back costs with reports surfacing yesterday that an internal government document flagged concerns about job losses among the 1,200-plus staff working on the scheme ahead of last Thursday鈥檚 announcement.

The main contractor on the station, Mace/Dragados, has around 360 people working on the job while a design team, which includes Grimshaw, Arup and WSP, has a further 600 staff with around 300 operatives on site.

Teams are expected to be demobilised with firms moving staff to other parts of the job where they can, or different schemes entirely. 

But one source said redundancies were inevitable and added: 鈥淭here will be a lot of nervous and apprehensive people. If you work for a multi-national you鈥檝e probably got something to go to but if you鈥檙e part of a small SME you might find yourself out of a job.鈥�

Grimshaw said it had started a consultation process on redundancies while Arup said it would look to redeploy staff elsewhere. In a statement, WSP said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e working closely with our client to consider any impact of last week鈥檚 announcement on project resourcing.鈥�

When firms were first asked to bid the scheme six years ago, the station was expected to open in 2026.

鈥淚t鈥檚 quite depressing, really,鈥� the source admitted. 鈥淲e鈥檒l all be retired by the time it鈥檚 done. 2035 is a realistic or optimistic date for Euston depending on where you stand. There is disappointment and frustration. It鈥檚 a blip but it will go ahead, we鈥檝e just got to come up with a solution to make it go ahead.鈥�

黑洞社区 understands the cost of the station has gone up by a third and is now closer to 拢4bn with officials at the Treasury wanting to see this brought back closer to the original budget.

Last week鈥檚 decision to prioritise construction work at Old Oak Common was coupled with an announcement that work on the line north of Birmingham had been delayed by a couple of years.

The source said: 鈥淏y delaying the northern leg, they鈥檝e bought themselves more time with Euston. They will want to get the cost [of Euston] down but it鈥檚 a slowdown in spending so I don鈥檛 know what it will save in the long run. In the meantime, you鈥檙e in danger of losing all that knowledge you鈥檝e built up.鈥�

The source added that regeneration plans for the site would now be 鈥減ushed further into the future鈥� and added that Old Oak was not a long-term solution to connect the capital with the Midlands and the North.

鈥淢ost people in Manchester and Birmingham don鈥檛 have a problem with Euston. What they don鈥檛 want to be doing is stopping at a bizarre place in London [Old Oak Common]. They want to go to recognisable place.鈥�

>>See also: 鈥楯ust get on and build the thing.鈥� John Armitt goes in to bat for HS2

A Costain team is digging the tunnel that will take the line into Old Oak Common from near the M25 at West Ruislip with a tunnel then running from that station into Euston.

Its chief executive Alex Vaughan told 黑洞社区 he expected the line to eventually end up at its original terminus. 鈥淭he whole purpose of HS2 is to unlock the connectivity from Manchester and the Midlands with Euston and central London.鈥�

Costain and Skanska completed enabling works at the Euston site last year and Vaughan said: 鈥淭he government has to look at spending priorities. Not everyone is in favour of certain infrastructure projects but they will drive a greener future and economic growth.鈥�

The chief executive of ground engineer Keller, which is carrying out around 拢250m worth of work on HS2, told 黑洞社区 it would be 鈥渟enseless鈥� not to go into Euston.

鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 make any sense at all,鈥� added Michael Speakman. 鈥淣ot going to Euston is like stopping the Elizabeth Line halfway through London.鈥�

Transport secretary Mark Harper said services between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street, expected to be up and running by the early 2030s, will be prioritised by government, with the construction of Phase 2a between Birmingham and Crewe set for a two-year delay.

But Old Oak Common only has six platforms and a source said if Euston was delayed for longer than envisaged, the station would quickly face capacity problems. 鈥淎t the moment, there aren鈥檛 enough platforms at the London end. Euston has to open to deal with capacity issues.鈥�

Harper said the government remained committed to running HS2 services into Euston but added it would 鈥渁ddress affordability pressures to ensure the overall spending profile is manageable. We will therefore take the time to ensure we have an affordable and deliverable station design.鈥�

But the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission John Armitt told 黑洞社区 the government should have held its nerve and pressed on with building HS2 as quickly as possible.

鈥淗aving decided to build it, we should get on and build it. The cheapest way is to build it as quickly as possible. The more you spin it out, the more you鈥檝e got future inflation. It creates more uncertainty.

鈥淗S2 has the opportunity to make an enormous contribution to transport in this country and we should now just get on and do it as effectively, efficiently and quickly as we possibly can.鈥�

Lawyers have also warned that delays to the scheme could end up going on for longer than initially expected 鈥� and raise the risk of parts of it being shelved completely.

Addleshaw Goddard partner Francis Tyrrell said: 鈥淭he delay means that much of the already submitted impact assessments will have to be updated. Updating all that information may trigger a requirement to reconsult.

鈥淏ut, more importantly, [the delay] may call into question the underlying business case for the infrastructure and the benefit-cost ratio, given that the construction costs are only likely to increase over time.鈥�

He also questioned whether 鈥渋t is legitimate to have powers of compulsory purchase hanging over property for protracted periods of time where there is no intention to implement them in the short term鈥�.

Harper blamed 鈥渉eadwinds鈥� stemming from Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine and post-covid supply chain disruption for the delay with reported costs of the project now said to be 拢71bn.