Calculating the cost of megaprojects like HS2 - expert comment from Professor Naomi Brookes

Prof Naomi Brookes Naomi Brookes, Professor of Complex Programme Management at WMG, University of Warwick, comments on a report which estimates another 20% increase in spend on HS2.

“Understanding the costs and benefits of megaprojects such as HS2 is a complicated and imprecise activity.

“The problem isn’t that costs have ‘spiralled out of control’, but that there is still no definite decision on what’s being built. Until then, no estimate is going to be accurate. There is also a very imprecise idea about which parts of the project will bring which benefits. This makes coming up with an overall analysis very difficult.”