Mace boss repeats claim that leaving HS2 Euston site as it is will ‘scar’ London

Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds has repeated claims that leaving the HS2 site at Euston as a hole in the ground will continue to “scar” London.

He told Building in the summer the decision to mothball the job was “absolutely shameful”, adding that leaving the site as it was would be a “complete scar on the London landscape”.

In an interview with the BBC this morning, he said the decision to mothball the job “came from nowhere. One minute the prime minister and chancellor are standing up and telling everyone the railway is going to Euston and three weeks later, they’re saying it’s being paused for two years.”

Around 200 staff are left on the project, a number that will fall further in the coming weeks once major site facilities for the planned thousands of workers is completed. Reynolds said the site “remains a significant scar on London”.

Options to save money on the station, estimated to cost £4.8bn from an initial budget of £2bn, include making it seven platforms and adding three more platforms as later legs come on stream.

>>>See also: ‘The design team has gone from 500 to six.’ What HS2 Euston is doing now

The job has seen more than 1,000 people leave it since transport secretary Mark Harper’s decision to mothball the job in March with the design team being cut from 500 to just six. At peak, the site will have a workforce of between 2,500 and 3,000 people on it which was supposed to have been in 2025 and 2026.

As Euston main contractor, Mace and Spanish joint venture partner Dragados had around 360 staff on the project before Harper hit the pause button.

Reynolds added that running the line to and from Old Oak Common made no sense. “Stopping a significant rail network at Old Oak Common that will then take longer to get into London than it would from Old Oak Common to Birmingham is not the best option for everyone to be honest.”

He said the flip flopping over HS2 was also damaging the UK’s standing internationally. “It is damaging investment into the UK, we know that international finance is reluctant to invest in the UK.”