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The HS2 rail project is one of the largest civil engineering and construction undertakings in the history of the UK, but not every firm that could benefit knows how to get a piece of the action.
Fr this reason, HS2 Ltd has launched a series of webinars aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to provide them with help to bid for contracts. This will in turn enable HS2 to access more potential partners in the supply chain to ensure the work is carried out on time and to a high standard.
Known as ‘Work With Us Wednesdays’, these were first introduced in June last year, but a new series will run from June 9th to July 14th, following further government announcements about the project’s northward expansion and the passing into law of the bill to construct the section of the line between Birmingham and Crewe.
Director of procurement and supply chains for HS2 Andrew Cubitt said: “Investing just an hour or two of your time over the next six weeks really could be the start of something big.”
Stating that he wanted British firms to “take the lead” in constructing HS2, he added: “This is a great first step to ensuring that your company is among those creating a cleaner, greener future for us all.”
Around £28 billion of contracts have been awarded so far, mostly to British firms. HS2 estimates this will rise to £25 billion by the end of next year.
Scaffolders in Sheffield will be among those who may be interested in HS2 contracts, with the line set to run through the heart if the city. This represented an amendment to the original plan that would have seen the route fringe Sheffield with a station at Meadowhall on the eastern outskirts.
After leaving Sheffield, the line will continue northwards to Leeds, where a new station will be constructed at New Lane, with passenger connections to the existing Leeds Central station nearby.
Last week, transport secretary Grant Shapps said the eastern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds would not only go ahead, but may be delivered sooner than originally planned.
He made the pledge in an address to the Policy Exchange thinktank, stating that it is time to be more ambitious than the original estimates that the benefits of the line would emerge in the 2040s. “We think we could bring that forward quite dramatically by building it in a smarter way”, he remarked.
In December last year, the National Infrastructure Commission had cast doubt on the eastern section of the line amid rising cost projections, arguing that the focus of investment should be on local transport.
However, Mr Shapps said the real question was “how to better integrate” HS2 with the Northern Powerhouse rail project.
Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Henri Murison said Mr Shapps was doing “exactly the right thing in promising to deliver the eastern leg right the way to Leeds”, adding that what is needed next is a full government commitment to the Northern Powerhouse rail project.
