Artist's impression of the Chesham Road Intervention Shaft.

Chesham Road Intervention Shaft

The Chesham Road Intervention Shaft is one of five shafts being constructed as part of the Chiltern Tunnel. It’s located off the B485 at Hyde End, near Great Missenden, and will provide access to the tunnel for emergency services.

Watch on YouTube - Excavation of the HS2 Chiltern Tunnel shafts close to completion

Shaft construction

Work is currently underway to excavate the shaft and construct the outer wall. Once complete, the site team will move on to the structural work inside the shaft.

Slide 1 of 2: Aerial of the Chesham Road site.

Slide 2 of 2: Aerial of the Chesham Road site.

Shaft design

The arrangement of the buildings is based on an agricultural courtyard layout with the overall footprint of the compound kept to a minimum.

Pitched roofs wrap around the buildings, creating simple agricultural barn forms. Buildings are orientated to reduce their perceived scale from key viewpoints. Door and ventilation openings are recessed and treated in a different material, providing greater clarity to the buildings. The louvred screens break up the overall form and conceal plant equipment.

The zinc, painted steel and engineering brick will be durable and are designed to age gracefully over time without losing robustness and quality. Dark, neutral colours will ensure the buildings appear recessive as much as possible. The building colour and detail has been designed to blend into the landscape, using a simple palette of materials inspired by local agricultural and industrial buildings.

We have retained as much of the existing vegetation along Chesham Road (B485) as possible. This has included the protection of the large oak trees along the northern boundary of the site. Following feedback, we have increased the proposed hedgerow depth and the size of the native tree and shrub species used to screen views of the building.

We will create habitats using native plants and seeds to enhance the biodiversity value of the site. HS2 will undertake long-term management of land in its ownership guided by a Habitat Management Plan for the lifespan of HS2. The plan is to create a species rich grassland habitat reflective of the Chilterns grassland with a new hedgerow and tree planting used to allow animal foraging and movement.

Chesham Road Intervention Shaft design information boards