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Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds has called the government鈥檚 handling of its decision to mothball the HS2 site at Euston 鈥渁bsolutely shameful鈥�, accusing it of 鈥渟neakily鈥� releasing the news just weeks after reassuring firms the job was still going ahead.

The scheme has been put on hold for the next couple of years at least, leaving a vast empty site in the middle of the capital.

As Euston main contractor, Mace and Spanish joint venture partner Dragados had around 360 staff on the project before transport secretary Mark Harper hit the pause button on the scheme earlier this year.

Reynolds said the number of staff from Mace on the project had gone down from 180 to just 40 while the joint venture had been budgeting for around 拢350m-worth of work this year on the scheme.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to redeploy people but others in the supply chain haven鈥檛,鈥� he said, adding that leaving the site as it was would be a 鈥渃omplete scar on the London landscape鈥�.

But he reserved his strongest words for the way government had handled the announcement in March.

He told 好色先生TV: 鈥淓veryone has done all this work, the prime minister and chancellor got door stepped earlier this year [in January chancellor Jeremy Hunt dismissed reports it was looking at scaling HS2 back] and they stood there, bold as brass to say 鈥榶es, it鈥檚 going to Euston鈥� and a few weeks later they sneakily put out a statement, that was read out in Parliament, to say it鈥檚 been suspended for two years. It鈥檚 absolutely shameful.鈥�

See also >>> 鈥楾he design team has gone from 500 to six.鈥� What HS2 Euston is doing now

A report from the National Audit Office in the spring revealed the anticipated cost of the station had hit 拢4.8bn, roughly 85% higher than the original 拢2.6bn budget.

Reynolds admitted the amount budgeted for the station was 鈥渆xcessive鈥� but added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a HS2 station. 拢1.1bn of that is for a TfL station.鈥�

Referencing the Scottish parliament scheme, where budgets and designs kept changing, he said: 鈥淚f [the government] is basing costs on 2015 or 2019 budgets and it鈥檚 going to finish in 2036 or 2042, of course it鈥檚 going to cost more. They should have asked: 鈥榃hat can we get for our budget and how can we do that together?鈥欌��.

Earlier this month, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said mothballing work at Euston shows the government 鈥渄oes not know what it is trying to achieve鈥� with the station.

The DfT has said it will use the pause to determine the minimum requirements for the station and make decisions about what should be prioritised.

Options being looked at include making it a seven-platform station and adding three more platforms as later legs come on stream.

The job has seen more than 1,000 people leave it since Harper鈥檚 written statement with the design team being cut from 500 to just six. At peak, the site will have a workforce of between 2,500 and 3,000 people on it which was supposed to have been in 2025 and 2026.