Firm beats Skanska and McAlpine teams to Solihull deal

Laing O鈥橰ourke has finally won its maiden HS2 station contract after previously missing out on schemes eventually won by a Mace/Dragados pairing.

The firm has landed the 拢370m HS2 Interchange station scheme at Solihull, beating Skanska and a Sir Robert McAlpine grouping called Unity which included VolkerFitzpatrick and WSP.

hs2 interchange

Source: HS2 Ltd

Main construction work will start next year

Interchange is the fourth and final station of the first phase of the line to come up for grabs with a Balfour Beatty/Vinci team building Old Oak Common in west London while the Mace/Dragados team will build both Curzon Street in Birmingham and Euston in central London.

O鈥橰ourke pulled out of the Euston bid and was considered the team to beat on Curzon Street.

But the firm, which has been helping clear the site at Curzon Street in partnership with Murphy, will now start construction work next year once design work by Arup has been completed.

Interchange will include an automated people mover which will link to the NEC, Birmingham International Station and Birmingham Airport and carry up to 2,100 passengers an hour in each direction, with a service every three minutes along a 2.3km route.

Preparatory work at the Solihull site is being carried by the Balfour Beatty/Vinci team.

The site for the Interchange station covers an area of 150 ha within a triangle of land formed by the M42, A45 and A452.

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