Source: Niskanen Center
by Dan Davies
“In a small site of special scientific interest about 20 miles northwest of Oxford, a ‘shed’ is being built. Or at least, that was how Jon Thompson, the chief executive of the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project, described the Sheephouse Wood Bat Protection Structure. … The ‘bat shed’ became the subject of media controversy in 2024 when … Thompson revealed that it, alone, had added £100 million to the bill. It makes a useful starting point for discussing a general question of costs in infrastructure, not just in the UK but in many countries with a similar economic and legal structure. Why do things like the Sheephouse Wood Bat Mitigation Structure seem to happen so often? More to the point, why do they appear to particularly afflict the common law countries?” (04/01/25)