Sir David Higgins, the incoming chairman of High Speed Two, is looking to get the £42.6 billion railway back on track by drafting in a construction boss with their own support team.
The Evening Standard can reveal HS2 is searching for a construction chief executive who will be charged with ensuring that the much-criticised project does not break its already eye-watering budget.
The estimated cost was hiked by £10 billion this summer, threatening the much-trumpeted cross-party support HS2 had enjoyed in Westminster and fuelling further claims that the business case was flimsy.
Although Londoners would see their journey time to Birmingham slashed to just 49 minutes, there were concerns in areas like Camden that construction disruption to housing and businesses could not be justified.
Sir David made his name by leading the rescue of the London 2012 Olympics, which was threatening to break even its revised budget of more than £9 billion.
He joins HS2 after the near-50,000-page Bill to get Parliamentary approval for the project was handed to the Government last month. An HS2 spokesman said: “With the milestone of the hybrid Bill completed, the project now looks to the start of the construction phase. As such, HS2 has begun its strategy of bringing in relevant skills for the construction phase.”
Although Sir David’s chairmanship does not start until January, the move to also hire a construction boss with what one industry source said amounts to their “own board” has the Australian’s stamp all over it.
Speaking at the start of David Cameron’s trade trip to China, Chinese premier Li Keqiang yesterday said the country could invest in HS2.
