High Speed Two

Costain Skanska joint venture delivers significant ‘social value’ to communities in London

The Costain Skanska joint venture (CSjv) team, working in partnership with HS2, has shared details of its legacy programme that has created vast numbers of local jobs, invested in SMEs and challenged the stereotypical diversity of a construction project. These outcomes known under the term ‘Social Value’ support the long-term wellbeing and resilience of individuals, communities, and society in general.

Costain Skanska’s social value activities have included partnering with Buses for Homeless (B4H), a social enterprise which aims to get homeless people off the street and into full time sustainable employment and accommodation. B4H refurbishes decommissioned London buses into spaces suitable for their guests to live and takes them through an intensive 12-week training programme. The site set up includes separate buses for sleeping; cooking and eating; learning; and wellness and therapy.

Speaking of the initiative, Dan Atkins, Founder of Buses 4 Homeless said: (more…)

By Deborah, ago

Arup’s design wins HS2 Interchange station BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification

Sustainability and resilience have never been more important in transport infrastructure than now. The ambition for a megaproject such as HS2 has always been to build the most sustainable railway of its type in the world. Representing companies with relevant experience and an interest in high speed rail, the High Speed Rail Group is acutely aware of the challenges to industry that the government’s net zero carbon target brings. As part of its commitment to managing carbon footprint, HS2 has also set ambitious targets for its supply chain to minimise the whole life carbon emissions of its assets including buildings. For stations this includes achieving net zero carbon in operation for regulated emissions and achieving a 50 per cent reduction in whole life carbon emissions against a baseline for a typical station.

Arup has produced a design for HS2’s new Interchange station, to be built near Solihull and the NEC in the West Midlands. The station will be one of the best-connected places in the UK, with customers (more…)

By Deborah, ago

HS2 North West Voices

Our report HS2 North West Voices brings together a range of influential voices in the North West, outlining the “transformational benefits” HS2 – delivered “all the way” to Glasgow – will bring to the North West economy. Two of the region’s leading Conservative and Labour MPs back the report and say HS2 will ensure the country is “firing on all cylinders”

John Stevenson MP (Conservative, Carlisle) and Lucy Powell MP (Labour, Manchester Central) say:

“HS2 is vital to fundamentally addressing the North-South divide.  With inequalities of prosperity and opportunity between the North and the South, connecting London all the way to Glasgow will ensure that every part of our country is firing on all cylinders.  HS2 will turn great cities, like Manchester and Carlisle, into inter-connected economic powerhouses, helping us to excel into the 2020s and beyond, and it will tackle the division between North and South, bringing Britain together with the first new North-South railway in a hundred years.”

You can access the full report here: HSR Industry Leaders HS2 North West Voices Report Nov 2019

The report outlines how HS2 will “turbo charge the wider Northern economy (more…)

By Deborah, ago