New £30 million HS2 benefit scheme 'not enough' say opponents
Read more: http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/115...s/?ref=rss
UK high-speed railway line contest for £10bn in contracts begins
Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07b91996-51e9-...z3G9JZfALC
Also copied below...
Lucrative work for the UK’s proposed high-speed railway line will be launched this week when HS2, the company set up to promote the project, holds a sold-out conference ahead of releasing £10bn of tenders.
Significant contracts, including a £60m job assessing the condition of the land between Birmingham and London, are due to be awarded next month, with the rest to follow soon after as competition accelerates for work on the line.
More than 1,000 companies are signed up for two conferences in London and Manchester during the next fortnight, in a guest list that reads like a who’s who of the construction and engineering industry, including ArcelorMittal, Siemens, Bechtel and Mace.
Other contracts due to be released during the next few months include one worth £2.9bn for early stage tunnelling work; £2.7bn for the surface route; £2.6bn for stations; £600m for enabling works; £1.5bn for railway systems; and £350m for design services.
The tenders come even though Britain’s second high-speed railway line remains controversial and is not due to receive Royal Assent until after the election.
Construction is not expected to start on the first phase of HS2, between London and Birmingham, until 2017, with completion due in 2026. A second Y-shaped section from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds is due to be finished in 2032-33.
MPs are still in the process of scrutinising nearly 2,000 objections to the HS2 bill. A committee of six MPs will spend months listening to evidence from those who will be affected by the project.
Despite this, increasing amounts of preparation work are going ahead. HS2 Ltd already employs 1,000 staff and is hiring a person every day. It has spent £3bn since it was set up by the government in 2012. The cost of the project in its entirety is estimated at £42.6bn over 20 years, making it one of the most expensive railways in the world. A further £7.5bn is needed for the high-speed trains.
Competition for the contracts is expected to be intense, with the biggest international construction and transport companies already seeking work. East Japan Railway, a Japanese rail network operator, has opened an office in London, in part to prepare for work on HS2, while Hitachi, a Japanese rail company, has moved the headquarters of its rail business to Britain in what is seen as a pre-emptive move to win the contract to build 180mph trains for the line.
The project will provide a lifeline for the construction industry, which has struggled during the recession.
Simon Kirby, one of several former Network Rail executives who has joined HS2, said it was “determined to build on Crossrail’s success where 97 per cent of contracts were placed with UK-based firms”.
But Martin Blaiklock, a consultant who is also a former director of utilities at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has challenged this assumption. According to his research, just 27 per cent – or £1.75bn out of £6bn – of the design and construction contracts for Crossrail by value went to UK owned and controlled companies.
Although much of this work will have gone to UK-based subcontractors, who employ staff in the UK, ownership is important because it helps to determine who will accrue long-term gains – such as skills and management – from working on the project and whether they are paying corporation tax in the UK.
Mr Blaiklock said: “Given the results of such analysis for Crossrail, it seems highly questionable, therefore, as to how much experience and knowhow on High Speed 2 will benefit the UK.”