New SCS MD for HS2 London tunnels: delivery and risk notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Costain has appointed Rohan O’Grady as managing director of the Skanska‑Costain‑Strabag (SCS) joint venture delivering HS2’s London tunnels, a multi‑billion‑pound package including twin‑bore, high‑speed rail tunnels and associated underground structures. O’Grady joins from CPB Contractors, CIMIC Group’s construction arm, bringing over 20 years’ experience on complex, large‑scale transport and infrastructure schemes in both public and private sectors. His remit centres on safe, efficient delivery of the London tunnelling works, a critical element for HS2’s capacity uplift on the UK rail network.
Technical Brief
- Appointment is at SCS JV level, directly governing HS2’s London tunnels construction package delivery.
- Role sits within Costain’s transportation business, aligning tunnelling delivery with wider rail and civils portfolio.
- Costain emphasises continuity of an existing “fantastic team”, indicating organisational focus on maintaining delivery momentum.
Our Take
Costain’s role in the SCS JV on HS2 London tunnels sits alongside a busy UK workload in our coverage, including Thames Water’s £150M wastewater upgrades and the South Kensington station upgrade, signalling that the contractor is heavily leveraged to complex, urban infrastructure delivery rather than greenfield work.
Recent pieces in our database show Costain growing its UK infrastructure order book and doubling its apprentice intake, which suggests the group is actively building the delivery capacity and skills pipeline needed to sustain labour‑intensive tunnelling and rail contracts like HS2 London.
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.
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