High Speed Rail 2 (HS2), UK

HS2 is the most significant transport infrastructure project in the UK since the motorways were built in the 1950s. Our involvement goes back to its conception as a national rail network that will connect the UK's regions and promote economic growth through regeneration and job creation, bringing benefits far beyond the cities with high speed stations.

HS2 will be a Y-shaped rail network that will reduce journey times between Britain’s major population centres and improve capacity across the existing rail network. It will be built in two phases. The first will see construction of a new 225km line between London and Birmingham by 2026. It will include a connection to Europe via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel. Phase 2 will extend the high speed lines to Manchester and Leeds opening in 2033.

Following on our earlier involvement and our role as the government's representative on HS1, we now have several roles on both phase 1 and phase 2 of the scheme. Our work will form the basis of the various documents for the Hybrid Bill which will be submitted to Parliament.

Phase 1

We prepared preliminary designs for the London Metropolitan Area section of the rail link between London and Birmingham. Working closely with HS2 Ltd, rail systems designers, environmentalists and land referencing companies, we designed approximately 25km of new high speed rail line from Euston Station through north-west London. We also worked on the link to HS1 and a new 14 platform interchange station at Old Oak Common.

As part of a consortium, we carried out environmental surveys for the London metropolitan area and the rural south section of the route covering Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. Our work includes detailed technical assessment across a range of topics including ecology, land quality and cultural heritage, preparation of assessment reports for community forums along the route, consultation with stakeholders and the development of mitigation.

We also provided land referencing services, to identify and confirm all property interests land along the Country North section, covering Warwickshire and Staffordshire, as well as the connection to the West Coast Main Line. Working closely with HS2 Ltd’s land and property team, we managed the delivery of access licences enabling ecological, environmental and engineering surveys to take place. This involved extensive stakeholder engagement with property owners, councils, charities, residents associations, land agents and solicitors.

Phase 2

Mott MacDonald previously developed the route and station options for the Birmingham to Manchester line working in close collaboration with environmentalists and HS2 Ltd. Starting with a long list of many potential routes and stations this culminated in the publication of the initial preferred route in January 2013.

We're providing engineering services for the Birmingham to Leeds route such as refinements to the initial preferred route design and producing the pre-consultation route. We're also helping HS2 Ltd at public consultation events. And we'll undertake route refinements incorporating any changes required by the Secretary of State to create the post-consultation route.