Balfour Beatty has promoted its project manager at Old Oak Common station to oversee all major projects on the HS2 route.
Nigel Russell is currently leading BBVS’s Old Oak Common station project, a joint venture between Balfour Beatty, Vinci and Systra.
But in January, he will take up the role of chief executive of major projects for HS2, replacing incumbent Michael Dyke, who is leaving Balfour Beatty to take up a new role in Saudi Arabia.
A statement from Balfour Beatty said: “Nigel will be responsible for Balfour Beatty’s HS2 interests and will lead the delivery of Balfour Beatty Vinci’s HS2 Area North contracts, including any future package of works along this route, as well as the HS2 station Old Oak Common project.
“Nigel will report directly to Leo Quinn, Group Chief Executive of Balfour Beatty.”
Russell joined the company in 1981 as a graduate engineer on the M25 motorway scheme and has led transport and rail projects including the M1/A1 Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) contract, the public private partnership for London Underground, the West Coast Main Line. update and the DBFO M25 Connect Plus.
In 2019 he moved to the Old Oak Common station project in west London after being project director for the construction of Crossrail’s Whitechapel station, which was delivered by Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure and Vinci Construction (BBMV).
Dyke joined Balfour Beatty in 2020 to lead the company’s HS2 interests, 18 years after completing an eight-year spell at the firm as senior commercial director of major projects.
The flagship HS2 rail plan will end in Birmingham after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in October that he was ruling out the route to Manchester.
Uncertainty remains over how the proposed route from Old Oak Common to Euston will be paid for and delivered.
