CH2M withdraws from €198 million UK deal

US-based CH2M recently confirmed that it will no longer be fulfilling its role as delivery partner for phase two of the High Speed Two (HS2) railway project in the UK.

The £170 million (€197.9 million) contract was to develop stretches of railway from Crewe to Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds.

The signing of the contract was delayed by controversy as beaten bidders led by Mace raised questions over the award, prompting officials to investigate the alleged conflicts of interest.

Concerns followed the appointment of Mark Thurston, CH2M European managing director, as HS2’s new chief executive just two weeks after the contract had been awarded. Also, CH2M’s managing director Roy Hill had been endorsed as the interim chief executive of HS2 last October – months before the contract was given.

The US company said, “CH2M has demonstrated all appropriate measures taken throughout to ensure the integrity of the procurement process. Notwithstanding these efforts, we have taken the decision to alleviate any further delays to this critical national infrastructure project which could ultimately lead to increasing costs to UK taxpayers, as well as to our firm.”