NAO review of £11bn Lower Thames Crossing: risk and programme notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
The National Audit Office has agreed to investigate Transport Action Network’s claims about the £11bn Lower Thames Crossing, a proposed new tunnel and approach roads linking the M25 and A2/M2 east of London. Campaigners have questioned National Highways’ traffic and carbon forecasts and the value-for-money case for what would be one of the UK’s largest road schemes. Any NAO findings could affect programme timing, statutory approvals and procurement for major geotechnical works, including long twin-bore tunnelling under the Thames and extensive ground engineering on marshland approaches.
Technical Brief
- Extended pre-construction phase risks cost escalation on specialist ground investigation, monitoring and enabling works.
Our Take
The National Audit Office has recently scrutinised other major UK schemes such as HS2 and Sizewell C, and in those cases its findings have translated into tighter Treasury and Department for Transport controls on scope changes and risk allocation, which LTC proponents should now assume as a baseline scenario.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
Tunnelling
Specialised solutions for tunnelling projects including grout mix design, hydrogeological analysis, and quality control.
QCDB-io
Comprehensive quality control database for manufacturing, tunnelling, and civil construction with UCS testing, PSD analysis, and grout mix design management.