Cost of ‘bat shed’ to protect colony near HS2 has topped £100m, chair says

Artist's impression of the Sheephouse Wood bat protection structure, which will allow bats to cross above the railway. Photograph: HS2/PA

The cost of a “bat shed” to protect a species in woodland along the new HS2 high-speed line has risen to more than £100m, HS2’s chair has revealed.

The 1km-long mesh structure will be built where the London-Birmingham high-speed line emerges from a tunnel in Buckinghamshire, to protect a colony of Bechstein’s bats.