DfT prepares £3.4bn worth of contracts for the next 18 months

Posted on 25 May 2022

DfT prepares £3.4bn worth of contracts for the next 18 months

The Department for Transport (DfT) is prepared to sign off on a batch of HS2 delivery contracts during the next 18 months worth up to £3.4bn.

In the latest update of the DfT’s commercial pipeline document, which includes all the potential contracts worth over £2M that it expects to progress in the next 18 months, it includes four contracts for the high speed rail programme that are worth between £50M and £3bn.

Most intriguingly, it includes a provision for the much anticipated automated people mover between the HS2 Birmingham Interchange station and Birmingham Airport, which was recently redesigned to include a stop at the National Exhibition Centre and improve integration and accessibility. The contract for design and construction is valued between £100M and £250M.

There is also the contract for the main partner in the delivery of civils for Phase 2a – West Midlands to Crewe – which is worth between £500M and £3bn and will be going out for procurement in the next few months.

The four contracts are detailed below.

Contract name

Description

Value

Procurement date

Contract commence

Contract end

Land Referencing Services

Framework to support the referencing of ownership and occupational interests in land, delivering access to land and serving notices to enable possession and/or acquisition of land

£50M - £100M

Q1, 2022

Q1 2024

Q2 2028

Built Environment Technical Support Framework

Provision of high speed rail technical and engineering services

£10M - £50M

Q2, 2022

Unknown

Unknown

Phase 2a Main Civils Works Contracts

Provision of the main civils works contracts (packaging strategy under development)

£500M - £3bn

Q3, 2022

Q3, 2023

Unknown

Phase One North Stations: Automated People Mover

Provision for the design, construction (with potential maintenance and operational of certain assets) of an Automated People Mover, that carries passengers from Birmingham Interchange Station to Birmingham International Airport via stops at the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham International Rail Station

£100M - £250M

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Meanwhile, the rail industry has written an open letter to transport secretary Grant Shapps asking him for assurance that the Golborne link section of HS2 Phase 2b will go ahead. This follows from reports that Shapps has given private assurance to senior Tory MPs that it will be removed from the Parliamentary bill before it receives Royal Assent.

Rail experts have told NCE that scrapping the link, which connects HS2 to the West Coast Main Line for services to Scotland, would “hobble the value” of HS2.

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