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HS2 contractors delivering the tunnels and approaches into Euston station have received additional money to carry out the job.
HS2 Ltd has awarded the Skanska, Costain, Strabag joint venture (SCS JV) an additional £78M for its role in delivering the approach tunnels into Euston station.
The total contact is valued at £1.2bn and the additional funding is within contingencies already set aside in HS2’s £44.6bn phase one budget.
The SCS JV’s remit involves the design and construction of major tunnels in the approach to the London terminus at Euston station.
A Skanska spokesperson said that the additional funding “relates to planned and agreed changes to the scope of works under the contract”.
The spokesperson added: “Since being given notice to proceed by HS2 Ltd in April 2020, significant progress has been made on the project.
“This includes major earthworks, operations to assemble the first tunnel boring machine for launch this summer and the building of major structures, such as a new rail transportation logistics hub that will remove one million lorry journeys from London’s roads. In total 3,500 people are currently working on this section of the project.”
An HS2 Ltd spokesperson added: “There has been no increase in the budget for Phase One of HS2. The revision of budget allocation was anticipated spend and is all covered within the Phase One budget.”
NCE understands that detailed designs for the Euston tunnels are now all but complete and will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Euston Tunnel will carry passengers between London Euston Station and Old Oak Common Station on the HS2 network. Euston tunnel will be bored using tunnel boring machines (TBMs) launched from the western entrance, near Old Oak Common Station.
The tunnel will be 7.2km long, and at its deepest point, the tunnel will run 50m below ground.
In January 2020, HS2 Ltd released 3D renderings of the three tunnels design at Euston, following a court battle concerning the safety of the proposal.
The renderings show that two tunnels will run parallel with one another with a third running slightly above.
The designs were released after a High Court judge dismissed a resident’s application for a judicial review of High Speed 2’s (HS2) Three Tunnels design at Euston.
However, Mr Justice Jay ruled that the scheme could be constructed safely and that the “Three Tunnels design would not impose a ‘disproportionate or excessive burden’ on the Claimant” and therefore concluded that the application must be dismissed.
Earlier this year, HS2 revealed revised designs for its Euston terminus after the DfT took the decision to scale back the station from 11 platforms to 10.
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HS2 have not factored in Low Level Vibration into their plans at all. This would require Hertz value estimates to be calculated, currently they have only considered decibels. Low level Vibration is known to cause miscarriage and embryo deformity. This is bad law handed down and will be seen in future years, as something akin to primitive technical understanding from a time when acoustics and engineering was in its infancy. English law again has taken a step backwards and is nearing the achievement of incredulity by others working internationally in this area of law.