🚉 Rail
Concerns have been raised from a former director at the Department for Transport Operator regarding the length of the trains planned to be used on HS2. The trains which were bought in 2021 for £2Bn are 200m which Chris Gibb suggests may be too long for some of the smaller stations planned on the route. Elsewhere, the campaign group, The Victorian Society are asking people to write to the Mayor of London to show opposition for the planned redevelopment of Liverpool Street Station. The works, expected to cost £1.2Bn will increase the overall concourse capacity of the station of 76% as well as provide significantly more access for those with limited mobility.
⚡Energy
Members of Parliament have come together in a cross-party committee to launch an inquiry into the role of the Treasury into dictating the UK’s climate policy. The main focus on the inquiry is to investigate whether decisions taken by the Treasury has aided or hindered Britain’s attempts to fulfil its environmental obligations. In other news a document published by DESNZ has left the door open for a gigawatt- scale nuclear power station at Wyfla. This is in the aftermath of the decisions taken in 2025 to appoint Rolls Royce as the preferred partner for the government’s Small Modular Reactor programme, and to base the reactors at Wylfa as opposed to Oldbury-On-Severn. Lastly, National Grid has announced 13 contractors to help deliver substation works. The dynamic market framework allows for other firms to join the framework, but for now, the 13 preferred firms are in a strong position to secure opportunities in one of the largest pipelines of substation work.
🚗 Roads
A new overbridge is being developed on the A422 to accommodate HS2, which will intercept with the road between Brackley and Buckingham. The 128M bridge will allow the trains to run underneath the road which experiences up to 2000 vehicles an hour in peak conditions. In other news, Graham has secured the contract to deliver the Clifton Hampden Bypass section of the new major infrastructure scheme occurring in Didcot and the surrounding areas. Lastly, MPs have been told that £500M spent on cancelled National Highways schemes has provided no benefit to the public. This is part of the total £2.7Bn which had to be written off by the Department for Transport due to cancelled projects.
🏠Property and development
Forestry and Lane Scotland have launched a procurement notice for a £86.6M civil engineering framework. The procurement is split across 55 lots. Established in 2019, Forestry and Land Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government which manages the Scottish national forests and land. Elsewhere, Pagabo has launched a £4.16Bn civil engineering and enabling works framework. The framework will last for four years and will include 13 lots split across the country. This will include the combining of the existing National Framework for Civils and Infrastructure with the National Framework for Demolition and Land Preparation. In other news, Galliford Try has secured a contract for a new £750M affordable homes framework by the Sovereign Network Group. It is understood that this will help Sovereign deliver its targets of 2,000 new homes a year. Lasty, Sisk are closing in on securing a £280M deal to help deliver the next phase of the Battersea Power Station development. The plans are to develop two buildings 15 storeys high which amongst other uses will have 306 flats.
💧Water
Thames Water has been fined £10,000 for serious safety failures at a site in London. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea successfully took the water company to court due to unsafe street works which saw the public “put at significant risk”.