HS2’s approach to assessing whole life value is aligned to HS2’s strategic goals and anticipated benefits.  They needed a whole life value assessment in conjunction with an existing whole life cost assessment to help determine whether options identified as the programme progresses deliver better value for money across the life of HS2 than the baseline design.

WSP and Risk Solutions have created a whole life value tool to support this approach. The tool is used to score the value of a decision option in each of the types of benefits anticipated by HS2 Ltd. Users consider all of the potential benefits affected by a design option, scoring each benefit using a range of measures. The tool presents a dashboard view showing the final value of the option being considered against the HS2 benefit baseline.

The whole life value tool is designed to work in parallel with HS2’s whole life cost tool, so that value for money can be compared for each design option.

HS2 Ltd can update the tool to reflect changes in direction over time: e.g. changing the types of benefits of interest, the measures used to score each type of benefit, and the alignment of benefits with HS2 strategic goals.

HS2 Ltd and their contractors are now using the tool to measure and compare the value of various options, providing assurance that each design decision is made with a complete understanding of how the outcomes will affect the anticipated benefits of the HS2 programme.