More vision will put us on right track HS2 Debate Mark Thompson
Existing proposals for HS2 are fl awed, but if we engage the right people the idea can work
HS2 on an elevated section near Rugeley, Staffordshire
HS2 REPRESENTS A once-in-a-century opportunity to really reshape our economy. On its website
www.hs2.org.uk is the headline “Building a connected Britain” — Really? It’s the right ambition, but not exactly what’s on offer. Based on the current proposals, the table below shows the time savings that this investment will buy. Perhaps HS2 is suffering from poor
communication, but with all the emphasis on the benefi ts of the Birmingham line passing through the Tory heartlands, there appears to be confusion over journey times for places such as the east midlands, York, Sheffi eld, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I tend to think the feasibility study
for HS2 was based on “design a route from London to Birmingham capable of being extended to Manchester, then potentially across that incredibly mountainous terrain to Leeds”, rather than what it should have been, namely “design a solution to our chronic outdated transport infrastructure to put Great Britain back at the forefront of innovation for the next century, integrating our major cities, their diverse economies and world renowned universities to compete as a truly United Nation with Beijing, California, Delhi and Germany”.
More to offer With reduced travel times between London and Scotland, connecting the midlands, north west and north east in between, Britain would have a whole lot more to offer. There are land shortages in the south east, plenty of it up north, so reduced travel times would make development viable for many businesses and new communities. Selfi shly, as a practice with offi ces in
London, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow and a growing portfolio of international projects I know how much more productive we could be and how
12 | OCTOBER 2013 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER
much easier it would be to attract more international talent to bolster our overseas efforts. Of greater signifi cance, there would be more interest from London and international investors to travel to the regions if access were easier. But the existing proposals appear set to run the same course as the Heathrow/ Stansted/Boris Island debacle and, with the exception of the Olympics, which had an absolute deadline and almost 100% public and political support, all other major infrastructure projects of the past 50 years. Where is the political agreement on the priorities: a new air hub, future power supply, inter-city connectivity? Without cross-party support for these essential major projects, that should equally benefi t the whole nation rather than a piecemeal approach starting in London, they are doomed to compromise at best, and are more likely to end in failure. There is long overdue talk of cross- party agreement for such projects, with Sir John Armitt’s idea of a non-politicised infrastructure commission. We cannot allow political point scoring to interfere with our position on the world stage of industry and commerce, and urgently need unity for these projects which are the blood supply of the UK. For example, if the north east realises its ambition of becoming the silicon valley of advanced manufacturing and new energy industries, then all areas of the UK will benefi t from greater connectivity to
Birmingham Sheffi eld
Manchester Leeds
Newcastle Edinburgh Glasgow
source:
www.hs2.org.uk
HS2 predicted time savings Existing mins HS2 mins Saving mins 84
125 128 132 172 263 248
49 79 68 82
138 218 218
35 46 60 50 34 45 30
% saving 42% 37% 47% 38% 20% 17% 12%
feed off the opportunities that will arise. Politicians of all persuasions bang on about the green agenda and carbon reduction, but we are only tinkering at the edges without a properly integrated nationwide transport solution. If HS2 could connect with airports in each city region, we could do away with internal fl ights altogether. It could also negate the need for another Heathrow runway, as that capacity could be provided in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Park and ride With the inevitable increase in use of electric cars, out-of-town park-and-ride interchanges could be developed to reduce the number of people from having to drive into city centres simply to board a train in order to leave the city. Transport visionaries such as
Stephenson and Brunel are no doubt turning in their graves at the lack of foresight being shown by our politicians. Forget the delivery and Olympics and the appointment of a project manager for now. Let’s go back to the drawing board, assume we have a blank canvas and get our modern day innovators and entrepreneurs involved — Dyson and Branson would be a great start, but why stop there? Why not call on the boffi ns and innovators at Cambridge, Oxford, British Aerospace, Dyson, Jaguar, Lotus, McLaren et al to propose a radical, integrated exciting and visionary solution? With that sort of input we should be
able to design a solution for the long term that will still benefi t our great grandchildren rather than being obsolete by the time our unborn grandchildren are old enough to travel alone.
Mark Thompson is managing partner of architect Ryder and a member of the CBI Construction Council
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