HS2 exceeds carbon target as ten construction sites go diesel-free

HS2 now has 10 diesel-free construction sites, exceeding the project’s original target of one diesel-free site in 2022. Earlier in 2022, the Canterbury Road Vent Shaft in South Kilburn, managed by Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture (SCS JV), became HS2’s first diesel-free site. Also managed by SCS, the Euston Approaches and Victoria Road Crossover Box sites have achieved diesel-free status.

Align – a joint venture formed of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and VolkerFitzpatrick, have also announced that seven of their 14 sites are now diesel-free. These include five vent shaft sites along the route of the 10 mile Chiltern tunnels in Buckinghamshire, and two sites involved in the construction of the Colne Valley Viaduct. (more…)

First tunnelling breakthrough on HS2

HS2 is celebrating the very first tunnelling breakthrough on its one-mile dig under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire. The 2,000-tonne 125m long Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) named ‘Dorothy’ – after Dorothy Hodgkin, who in 1964 became the first British woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, started its journey at the tunnel’s North Portal in December 2021, broke through the wall of the reception box at the South Portal site on Friday 22 July 2022. Nearly 400 people working for HS2’s main works civils contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV JV) have delivered this important milestone on the HS2 project. (more…)