Connecting HS2’s giant land jigsaw

Working out who had an interest in which piece of land was just the start of the process, says project director Chris Simpson. “Before it could become law, we had to establish a snapshot in time of the land ownership, but owners, tenants and occupiers change daily. As it went through the legislative process, we had to refresh that data through re-referencing, and only then could we start the assembly process and contact owners whose land would be acquired, temporarily or permanently, or perhaps just for access.”

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With tangles of infrastructure and buildings to negotiate, the 10km from London Euston Station to Old Oak Common in west London saw 16,000 survey notices served to landowners and occupiers. The 26.5km Country South section, which includes Euston to Old Oak Common, required more than 8000 statutory land acquisition notices. Heading out of the city, land ownership became only a little simpler. Phase 2a will connect Birmingham in the midlands to Crewe, further to the north west. Our team provided land assembly services for the 60km between Birmingham and Crewe, requiring us to contact 4400 affected parties and serve almost 4000 statutory notices to date.