Decision on winner of last major building job on HS2 slips into next year

A decision on the winner of the last major building project yet to be awarded on the first phase of HS2 has slipped into next year.

The £480m scheme at Washwood Heath in Birmingham has been hit by a series of hold-ups since it came out nearly five years ago. It was first advertised via a PIN notice in January 2020 and then given a £250m price tag.

The job, which will serve as both the railway’s network control centre and its rolling stock maintenance depot once the line opens, had been due to be awarded this year.

Procurement was already delayed by three months last year after bidders were given an 11 week extension with tenders eventually going in last April.

Turkish contractor Gülermak was the surprise name on the original three-strong shortlist for the job but dropped out of the running last year to leave a pairing of Vinci and Keltbray Infrastructure Services up against a team featuring VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerRail.

Bidders were expecting a decision earlier this year, later revised to before Christmas, but a HS2 spokesperson confirmed this has now been delayed by several weeks into next year. He said: “The procurement process for Washwood Heath is ongoing and we expect to award contracts in the spring.”

Rumours surfaced earlier this month the job was being descoped to reduce costs – in the face of a new government and particularly in the wake of recent headlines that revealed HS2 has spent £100m on a ‘shed’ to protect bats on a section of the line.

But one source said: “HS2 have asked for some value engineering on parts of it but given the technical complexity of it, it will not be significant.”

Designed by local architect Glenn Howells, the centre is expected to employ more than 550 people.

The 30ha scheme was given the green light by the city council at the start of last year with the depot including a rolling stock maintenance building, carriage wash, automatic vehicle inspection building and sidings where trains can be stored overnight.

Also on the same site will be the Network Integrated Control Centre, the hub of the network’s signalling and control systems as well as office buildings for cleaners and drivers.

A team from HS2’s enabling works contractor LM, a pairing of Laing O’Rourke and Murphy, completed the demolition of the buildings on the site in 2020. The Washwood Heath complex was formerly home to the Metro-Cammell railway works, which closed in 2004.