The Department for Transport issued the Notice to proceed for HS2 railway project, representing the formal approval for main construction works to begin, following Government’s decision in February to continue with the HS2 project.
The Notice to Proceed regards the four main works civils contractors working on the project to commence full detailed design and construction of Phase One of the HS2. This includes the construction of 225 km of high-speed line from London – West Midlands.
“Following the decision earlier this year to proceed with the project, this next step provides thousands of construction workers and businesses across the country with certainty at a time when they need it, and means that work can truly begin on delivering this transformational project,” HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said.
The four work packages are for full detailed design and construction of Phase One of the HS2 railway line.
The joint ventures which were originally awarded the contracts in July 2017 are:
- SCS Railways (Skanska Construction UK Ltd, Costain Ltd, Strabag AG)
- Align JV (Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick, a subsidiary of VolkerWessels UK)
- EKBF JV (Eiffage Genie Civil SA, Kier Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd, BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman)
- BBV JV (Balfour Beatty Group Ltd, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Vinci Construction UK Ltd, Vinci Construction Terrassement).
“In these difficult times, today’s announcement represents both an immediate boost to the construction industry – and the many millions of UK jobs that the industry supports – and an important investment in Britain’s future: levelling up the country, improving our transport network and changing the way we travel to help bring down carbon emissions and improve air quality for the next generation,” Mark Thurston, CEO of HS2 Ltd said.
The contractors will start work immediately, progressing detailed design, site preparation works and placing important sub-contracts.
Phase One of HS2 will see a new high-speed line constructed from Euston to north of Birmingham, where it will re-join the existing West Coast Mainline. Services will travel onwards to places like Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Preston and Wigan.
Once operational, HS2 will serve over 25 stations connecting around 30 million people. It will significantly improve the connectivity in the North and Midlands and will also integrate the existing network serving stations into Scotland.
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