Martin Chambers
The decision to locate the HS2 head office in the West Midlands is warmly welcomed by Shaylor Group’s Martin Chambers.
Last week’s announcement that central Birmingham will be the home for the construction operations of HS2 is yet another demonstration of the common sense approach to doing business that the HS2 team is bringing to this massively important project.
Birmingham, being the end of the line for what was the original Phase 1 plan, would, one thinks, have always been the natural choice for the operational delivery nerve centre. But now with the “Higgins Plan” to extend Phase 1 up as far as Crewe, locating in Birmingham must have been a no brainer for the HS2 team.
A wonderful side benefit for the public purse should be the lower staff costs that a Birmingham base should bring over the higher salary bill had the team been based in London.
The importance of this announcement, which will be the trigger for some 1,500 new jobs to be brought to the greater west midlands, should not be underestimated.
Although, that said, there have to be some serious questions asked as to how these new posts are to be filled. The rail infrastructure industry is in many areas very specialised and already incredibly busy. So what now needs to be explained is how the design and construction staffing needs of HS2 will be addressed, but without causing overheating that will negatively affect other rail projects.
A year ago, I was an absolute sceptic about the need for HS2. But having listened very carefully to arguments for and against it, together with spending a lot of time looking at the engineering solutions being proposed, I am now personally a strong advocate for the timely building out of the entire “Y” plan to Leeds and Manchester.
The other, perhaps less obvious announcement made last week was the establishment of an Urban Regeneration Company for Birmingham’s Curzon Street district. This too is an incredibly important part of the catalytic jigsaw that HS2 promises to be for the whole country.
I would expect there to be further similar development vehicles set up in other cities as the wider economic and social ripples of HS2 begin to be felt. For instance, the location of other key HS2 assets, such as the maintenance depots, still remain to be finalised, these should similarly become the catalyst for other long-term and truly sustainable regeneration activities to be launched.
Martin Chambers PPCIOB is framework director of Shaylor Group and a former project director at Network Rail
