Transport secretary Louise Haigh is looking to renegotiate contracts with the major joint ventures building HS2.
Haigh has commissioned a review of HS2 – yes, another one – in an attempt to bring spiralling costs under control.
The review will be led by James Stewart, a former chairman of infrastructure at management consultant KPMG.
Stewart has been commissioned to investigate the oversight of all major transport infrastructure projects, not just HS2, including the effectiveness of forecasting and reporting of cost, schedule and benefits, as well as actions to deliver cost efficiencies. However, the review will primarily draw on experiences of HS2 in a bid to prevent the same mistakes being made again.
Stewart is expected to present his recommendations back to the government this winter.
Separately, the incentives of the main HS2 contractors are also being reviewed, which could lead to some contracts being renegotiated or amended, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
Haigh is also reinstating ministerial oversight of the project to ensure greater accountability. This will see regular meetings where both the transport secretary and rail minister Lord (Peter) Hendy, alongside the chief secretary to the treasury, will meet with whoever happens to be running HS2 at the time. Over its 15 year-life to date, HS2 has had five chief executives and seven chairmen, which is widely seen as part of the problem.
HS2 has actually been without a chief executive for more than a year now. Since Mark Thurston left in September 2023, civil service accountant Sir Jon Thompson has been running the show as executive chairman.
Former Crossrail boss Mark Wild was recruited to be the next HS2 chief executive back in May this year but has still not started work on the job.
According to the DfT, Wild will be starting “shortly”. When he eventually does, he will be expected to conduct his own review as well, Haigh said.
Louise Haigh said: “One of my first jobs as transport secretary has been to urgently review the position I have inherited on HS2. It has long been clear that the costs of HS2 have been allowed to spiral out of control, but since becoming transport secretary I have seen up close the scale of failure in project delivery – and it’s dire.
“Taxpayers have a right to expect HS2 is delivered efficiently and I won’t stand for anything less. I have promised to work fast and fix things and that’s exactly why I have announced urgent measures to get a grip on HS2’s costs and ensure taxpayers’ money is put to good use. It’s high time we make sure lessons are learnt and the mistakes of HS2 are never repeated again.”
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