Justin Phillips is a partner, director of the London office and transport sector leader for rail interchange projects worldwide at engineering consultancy Buro Happold.
So the northern part of HS2 is dead, having been very publicly and, unless something radical happens, very permanently cancelled.
There is no doubt that it is a hammer blow to the confidence of the UK and its engineering and construction industries. We’ll have to dust ourselves off, lick our wounds and move on. But how?
“One missed opportunity of HS2 was the ability to offer fully integrated digital design and MMC”
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) just published Second National Assessment of Infrastructures doesn’t pull punches It calls for “an urgent and comprehensive review of rail priorities for the North and Midlands following the government’s recent decision on High Speed 2, to ensure capacity and connectivity challenges are addressed”.
Despite its cancellation, I believe that HS2 offers us some invaluable lessons, albeit painfully learned, and above all a unique opportunity for the UK construction industry to make a big change and really be about new standards.
Lost opportunity
A missed opportunity of HS2 was the ability to offer fully integrated digital design and modern methods of construction (MMC). While it is true that the project has helped to promote both aspects, it was far from being a fully integrated digital design. Likewise, it did not offer the full potential of mass-produced off-site manufacturing.
This must be a key lesson learned for the future and, together with sustainability and a common architectural language, really become a fundamental element of the design philosophy from the start of the project.
There is too much custom construction in design, often driven by piecemeal buying. It involves too many interfaces, all of which lead to increased costs and delivery risks. Digital design is not a panacea, but should be the agent of change for increased prototyping and much greater standardization of off-site manufactured components (an assembly of parts) that can be configured in different ways to adapt to the environment, to the local design language, and reflect local needs.
Making this change means taking a step back and rethinking the design process for major infrastructure works. Rather than being seen as a fixed element, the basic design from the start of the project should focus on a common set of design components that can be built off-site, be it track, platforms, tunnel segments or station columns and beams.
Standardization should significantly limit costly design iteration and also ensure that each component is designed for multiple purposes to avoid common issues around interfaces and costly late design variations such as the integration of columns or beams structural with MEP building components or the integration of drainage pipes. It also provides sustainable structures that can be easily adapted or reconfigured in the future.
All this and more has been delivered in projects in other countries. It’s something the UK excels at delivering globally, but apparently struggles to realize close to home.
It is commonly recognized that much of the construction industry is too fragmented to truly deliver economies of scale. With a fully integrated digital design aimed at standardizing the production of off-site components, built in purpose-built factories and delivered over the existing rail network, we have the opportunity to truly rethink construction.
Despite pandemic disruption and changes in work patterns, the need for strong and reliable passenger (and freight) links provided by new high-capacity, long-distance rail has not gone away. And political whims will always be there in any high-profile flagship project.
But if cost is not also going to be the death knell for the next HS2, we need to start to embrace and really deliver digital design and MMC to integrate standardization and off-site modular construction.
Some real positives could emerge from the ashes of HS2, along with fresh thinking and a renewed ambition to make UK infrastructure among the best in the world.
