"Seismic" effect of HS2 already being felt says Sir David Higgins

HS2 is already having a seismic effect on business, according to its chairman Sir David Higgins.

Speaking at the UK Northern Powerhouse conference in Manchester, Higgins said the project was already changing the way private investors as well as local and central government plans for the future of Britain.

In a speech marking the second anniversary of the launch of his first report in the city, Higgins told business leaders at Manchester Central that not only had the concept of re-balancing the British economy taken root, people were beginning the process of making it a reality, helped by moves towards devolution.

Local authorities and enterprise partnerships not just in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, but also in the North West, the East and West Midlands, and Yorkshire were using HS2 not just to re-think their transport systems, but also how they attract private investment to their areas – and business has responded.

They were taking responsibility for transforming both their local economies and the overall balance of the national economy.

Companies such as Burberry in Leeds, HSBC in Birmingham, Interserve in Solihull are beginning to recognise the benefits of the extra connectivity and capacity that HS2 will deliver – as are potential investors elsewhere.

The potential for that transformation is outlined in a report published by HS2 today – HS2: Changing Britain.

It also outlines how HS2 is already changing the perceptions and ambitions of the next generation quoting Cheshire East councillor, Rachel Bailey, as saying that it is already having a tangible effect in Crewe: “That difference is being felt in schools because it is helping to lift pupils’ horizons, particularly on skills.”

But Sir David also challenged the UK infrastructure industry to learn the lessons of construction elsewhere and become more streamlined in its approach.

Higgins said “A series of factors male the UK industry less cost effective: a history of stop/go which prevented firms investing in skills, innovation and technology; fragmentation leading to multiple overhead costs plus a lack of co-ordination between design and construction.

“HS2 is determined to adopt a new approach which will bear down on those factors and transform the way we deliver infrastructure in this country, without compromising HS2’s strategic objective to re-balance the British economy.”

That approach, he said, would include: early contractor involvement to drive innovation and efficiencies in design and methodology; adopting enabling works contracts to clear the line of route ahead of the main civils works; incentivising companies to out-perform; adopting techniques new to this country such as linear construction, which uses the newly constructed route as a supply chain access.

“As a 20-year project we have no excuse not to become more streamlined in our approach and not to innovate,” he said.

Higgins said the lessons learnt from applying this approach to Phase One would be then be transferred to Phase Two.