HS2: London tunnels work suspended after safety incident

Work on HS2’s London tunnels has been suspended after a serious incident where a beam struck a crane basket with two workers inside, Construction News understands.

No one was hurt, but the Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture (SCS JV) flagged the issue with HS2 and has halted its work while a review of its safety procedures is carried out.

The accident took place on 29 September as a gantry crane was being dissembled at the Green Park Way vent shaft in west London.

An investigation has been launched, with the contractor acknowledging the serious potential risk to the workers involved.

All SCS JV works have been brought to a safe stop across all its sites and will remain shut until the safety review has been completed. Limited works such as essential maintenance will continue.

HS2 chief executive Mark Wild said in a statement: “Safety is our number one priority at HS2. Due to a serious incident, works have been safely halted across the London tunnels section of the route.

“While no workers were physically harmed, our contractor, Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, is undertaking a comprehensive review of safety procedures and leadership on their sites before a safe restart can take place.”

HS2 did not comment on whether the suspension of work would hit the project’s overall timetable.

Last Friday (3 October), HS2 construction delivery director Alan Morris spoke to media representatives including Construction News in which he outlined the progress of the megaproject, without mentioning the incident.

He outlined that the only remaining tunnel boring machine drives in London were the section between the Old Oak Common box and Euston.

These are due to start early next year and will take around 18 months, he said.

“One of the most difficult bits of building a project is the underground unknowns. You can only do so many boreholes. Geological conditions in some locations, you can pick up rock in one borehole and soft ground in another borehole 100 meters away,” he said.

As reported earlier this week, Morris also said the megaproject was focused on renegotiating two of its major civils contracts – the phase one northern main works civils contracts held by the Balfour Beatty Vinci (BBV) and Eiffage Kier Ferrovial Bam Nuttall (EKFB) joint ventures.

The BBV JV oversees civil engineering for the 90km West Midlands stretch of the high-speed line.

EKFB is responsible for civils on 80km of the HS2 route to the south of BBV’s section.

“Those are the ones that are our highest priority for us to ensure the programme is achievable,” Morris said.

He said renegotiations with SCS and the Align JV delivering 24km of infrastructure in the Chilterns would be simpler as their work was further progressed.

Wild said last December that the client planned to renegotiate contracts with all four civils JVs across the whole of the London-to-Birmingham phase one route.